Ahmed Farouq, member of Pharmacists Syndicate board and chief of pharmacies committee, called on the Health Ministry to withdraw all medicine that includes Domperidone substance especially suppositories with 10-30 mg of the substance due to its high health risks.
By late 2011, the French National Agency for Medicines and Health Products Safety warned against sudden death that may result from taking Domperidone, according to Farouq. The French journal Prescrire then announced that around 120 French nationals had died suddenly due to taking drugs that contained the substance in 2012, explaining the disorder they suffered were not dangerous and that safer medicines could have been prescribed.
“How could a company demand withdrawal of its drugs containing Domperidone, while the Health Ministry’s central department for pharmaceutical affairs does nothing,” Farouq wondered.
The European Medicines Agency recently recommended necessity to reduce the Domperidone doses to only 10 mg three times daily for adults with weights over 35 kilograms, and hence the 10-60 mg suppositories should be withdrawn, Farouq said. “It also recommended reducing treatment period and confirmed relation between Domperidone and the side effects on heart, especially on the elderly patients, who take daily doses over 30 mg.”
The Saudi Food and Drug Authority, according to Farouq, limited usage of Domperidone on treatment of nausea and vomiting for short periods and at small doses so the dose for children less than 35 kilogram weight would not exceed 0.25 mg/kilogram three times daily for one week under supervision of doctors and pharmacists. It was also banned for patients of heart diseases and angina.
Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
