Link between Eczema drugs and cancer

[emilys_mom]

Not sure where I should post this, but I thought more people might see it here. This freaked me out because I have been treated with Elidel (on my face) for rosacea and I used it all during pregnancy because my doctor thought it was safe since they prescribe it for kids (AGHH!!). Anyway, they have now possibly linked these two drugs to cancer, and I thought any moms using it should know.

http://www.cnn.com/2006/HEALTH/01/19/eczema.warning.ap/index.html

[TaChapm]

Warnings about Elidel came out last year around this time as well. They were given a black box warning at that time. Jackson had been using Elidel for 1 1/2 years everyday so it scared us. I talked to his pediatrician and Dermatolagist and both felt the drug was safe but we stopped using it. Our Dermatolagist said that in the tests massive doses had been fed to monkeys causing the problems. He said that not enought of it would be absorbed through the skin to cause problems. We stopped anyway.

Elidel was originally meant to be an anti-rejection drug for transplant patients but it didn't work well enough. It did work great for eczema though. Jackson was sick a lot while on Elidel and one of the things we were told last year was that it lowered the immune system. I only wish we had known that before we put him on it.

Thank you for the new warning. There are times when we have a really bad flair up and I am tempted to use it to clear it up but after the new warning ours is going in the trash.

Tara
Mommy to Jackson 11-10-02
Tyler William 6-9-05
OMG!!! Baby #3 Due September 5, 2006!

http://b4.lilypie.com/gzWfm8.png

http://b1.lilypie.com/kLMem8.png

http://bd.lilypie.com/UEZ3m8.png

[kboyle]

I heard about this on New Years Eve when I was discussing Eczema treatments with a friend of mine. I have also stopped using elidel and anything other thank reg lotion and the dry patches that I did have have pretty much gone away.

[emilys_mom]

Thanks for your response. You made me feel a lot better. I was really concerned when I saw this, and I've been thinking about it all morning. Definitely didn't eat large quantities, though so hopefully it won't effect Emily or me. :P

I'm going to do the same and toss what I have in my cabinet. I order in advance, so it's kind of painful to throw out so much, but definitely worth it for peace of mind.

Guess it's time to go see my dermatologist. I'm really ticked that there has been so much reported, and I've never heard anything. You would have thought he'd call me since he prescribed it to me.

[o_mom]

Actually, from the news reports, it sounds like there is very little evidence. The warning seems to be based on animal studies ("may cause cancer in laboratory animals" - ala saccarin) and individual reports. The individual reports have no controls, there is nothing that says the incidence is any higher in these patients.

You would be amazed at the number of drugs out there with much more evidence than this. I think the FDA is in CYA mode after the recent cases of drugs being removed from the market. Also, this is probably a drug with high off-label use, so they are trying to rein in all the family docs who are dispensing it for every little thing.

Just my read on things...

[TaChapm]

You know...both of DS doctors wanted to just leave him on it. They were not worried in the least little bit. I just didn't feel good about keeping him on something that had a black box warning.

We used it on Jackson twice a day everyday for 1 1/2 years and when I took Jackson off of it he had a really bad flair up on the palms of his hands that took 4 doctors to diagnose. It was from him coming off of the Elidel even though we never put it on his hands. It was bad.

Tara
Mommy to Jackson 11-10-02
Tyler William 6-9-05
OMG!!! Baby #3 Due September 5, 2006!

http://b4.lilypie.com/gzWfm8.png

http://b1.lilypie.com/kLMem8.png

http://bd.lilypie.com/UEZ3m8.png