Earlier this month, the FDA issued a prescription-drug watch surrounding the anti-bacterial drug, Zerbaxa. According to a recent report by Pharmacy Practice News, the FDA’s warning was based around the fact that the dosing information on the label of Zerbaxa cartons was confusing and not uniform with other prescription drugs, leading to the possibility of a pharmacist providing a patient with an incorrect dose of the medication. The report has caused the manufacturer of the drug to alter the drug’s label to make it more accurate and more easily read.
Evidently, Zerbaxa consists of two active ingredients, both of which are listed on the front of the drug’s carton. However, on the old label, the two active ingredients were listed separately, one after another. For example, on a package that contains a total of 1.5g medicine, the label read: 1g/.5g. This could give a pharmacist the idea that the amount of medicine in the carton was 1g and that it was equal parts of each active ingredient.
In fact, according to the FDA, there have been several pharmacy errors made involving this exact situation, seven since the drug’s approval back in December 2014. In four of these cases, the patient took the extra dose and suffered an injury. Thankfully, they suffered no serious harm as a result. In the three other cases, someone caught the error before the patient actually took the medication.