PEDIATRICS Vol. 89 No. 1 January 1992, pp. 159
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Do You Remember E-Ferol? The Penalty for Selling Untested Drugs in Neonatology: Fines and a Jail Sentence

Jerold F. Lucey MD1

1 From the Medical Center Hospital of Vermont, Colchester Ave, Burlington, VT 05401

The most recent therapeutic disaster in neonatology occurred in 1984 when E-Ferol killed at least 38 newborns.1 It's not the first time that this kind of thing has happened. Let's hope it will be the last.

Previous iatrogenic disasters have been caused primarily by well-intentioned physicians using logical therapies which turned out to have unexpected, lethal side effects. The E-Ferol chapter was a different story. A poorly managed, avaricious company, O'Neil, Jones and Feldman, Inc, a subsidiary of Carter-Glogau, decided to get the jump on the market and sell an untested preparation of intravenous vitamin E. The physicians assumed it had been tested and approved for use.