French regulator warns on Primperan overdosing

PARIS, July 17 (Reuters) - The French health authority on Tuesday warned against giving too much Primperan, a treatment for nausea and vomiting, to babies and children suffering from those afflictions.

It said there had been cases were the maximum dose had not been respected, or the intervals between administration of the liquid product had been too small. Overdosing can cause dizziness.

It asked the maker of Primperan, Sanofi-Aventis (SASY.PA), to provide special pipettes with marks for the doses for children weighing 1 to 15 kilos (2 to 33 pounds), and one for children weighing 15 to 30 kilos (33 to 66 pounds).

The 2.6 micro grammes per millilitre drinkable version of Primperan, on the market since 2002, is only available by prescription.

Primperan is a trade name for Metoclopramide, a dopamine receptor antagonist used to treat nausea and vomiting and discovered in the 1960s. It is also sold by other drug groups as Maxolon, Reglan, Degan and Pylomid.

(Reporting by Paule Bonjean)

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