Teva drops marketing of Zecuity on side affect issues

Israeli drugmaker Teva Pharmaceutical Industries (NYSE: TEVA) said today that it will voluntarily suspend sales, marketing and distribution of its migraine treatment Zecuity (sumatriptan iontophoretic transdermal system) due to observed negative side effects.

Teva has received post-marketing reports of application site reactions described as burns and scars in patients treated with Zecuity, and is working in full cooperation with the US Food and Drug Administration to better understand these adverse events. The FDA confirmed that Teva was temporarily suspending sales of the drug. In addition to this voluntary suspension, Teva has initiated a pharmacy-level recall of the product.

“At Teva, the wellbeing of people using our products is always the first priority. Given our deep commitment to patient safety, we will engage in a voluntary suspension of marketing while we continue our investigation into the root cause of these adverse skin reactions,” said Rob Koremans, president and chief executive of Global Specialty Medicines at Teva.