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An investigation has been launched by the European drugs regulator into a popular painkiller linked to a series of illnesses and deaths. The European Medicines Agency (EMA), one of the biggest EU regulators, confirmed on Friday it was reviewing the painkiller metamizole, which can lead to agranulocytosis, a potentially fatal condition in which a patient’s white blood cells are severely depleted. It was revealed by the Observer last November that a patients group in Spain had launched a legal action against their government over claims it had failed to safeguard people against the drug’s side-effects.

The drug, marketed in Spain under Nolotil brand, is already banned in several countries, including the UK. The EMA said there were “concerns that the measures in place to minimise the known risk of agranulocytosis may not be effective enough”. The EMA’s review was requested by the Finnish medicines agency after recent cases of agranulocytosis.



A company marketing metamizole in Finland had requested its market authorisation be withdrawn for safety reasons, the EMA said. View image in fullscreen Spanish campaigner Cristina García del Campo welcomed news of the EU investigation. Photograph: Handout The regulator said: “EMA’s safety committee will now review the risk of agranulocytosis for all metamizole-containing medicines authorised in the EU.

“The committee will assess the impact of agranulocytosis on the benefit-risk balance of the medicines and issue a recomme.

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