Our lawyers are investigating the anti antipsychotic drug ziprasidone, marketed under the brand name Geodon by Pfizer, and also sold as a generic. Ziprasidone is associated with a rare but serious skin rash that can progress to affect other parts of the body.
The FDA is requiring a new warning has been added to the Geodon drug label to describe the serious condition known as Drug Reaction with Eosinophilia and Systemic Symptoms (DRESS). Symptoms include a rash and/or swollen lymph nodes. If you have these symptoms after using Geodon or a ziprasidone generic, you should immediately seek urgent medical care. This condition can be fatal.
Ziprasidone is an antipsychotic drug used to treat the serious mental health disorders schizophrenia and bipolar I disorder. Patients should not stop taking their medicine or change their dose without first talking to their health care professional. This is extremely important.
DRESS may start as a rash that can spread to all parts of the body. It can include fever, swollen lymph nodes, and inflammation of organs such as the liver (hepatitis), kidney (nephritis), lungs (pneumonitis), heart (myocarditis and pericarditis), or pancreas (pancreatitis). Fatal cases of DRESS generally involve organ inflammation. DRESS also causes a higher-than-normal number of a particular type of white blood cells called eosinophils in the blood. Symptoms generally appear 2 to 8 weeks after the first use of the drug, but in the 6 cases associated with ziprasidone, symptoms appeared between 11 and 30 days after first taking the medication.
None of the 6 patients who got DRESS after taking ziprasidone died; however they became seriously ill.
There is not a recall of this product.
Urgent Information
Call your health care professional(s) and seek immediate care if you develop any of the following signs or symptoms: skin rash, fever, swollen face, swollen lymph glands.