Five patients who used Aventis Pharma Ltd.'s Arava rheumatoid arthritis drug have died of pneumonia over the past four months since the drug was launched in Japan, the pharmaceutical company said Tuesday.
Eleven other users of the drug, generically known as leflunomide, have developed interstitial pneumonia, according to the Japanese unit of the Franco-German pharmaceutical giant.
The Tokyo-based subsidiary called for doctors to refrain from prescribing the drug to patients who previously suffered from interstitial pneumonia or lung fibrosis, or exhibit respiratory symptoms like coughing.