The public safety advocacy group Public Citizen has called upon the FDA
to ensure that the
antibiotic tigecycline is marked with a black box warning -- due to the fact that
there is a higher mortality rate with that drug than with other popular
antibiotics. Public Citizen's Health Research Group deputy director
reports that the mortality rate is 30% higher with tigecycline. In conjunction
with that frightening statistic, it was found that the antibiotic also
has higher rates of failure to cure serious infections in comparative
studies. Currently, the drug's label does little to inform the consumer
about its side effects.