Re: 2/28/05 - [MTXX] NBC5.com: Woman: Zicam Caused Loss Of Smell; Lawsuit Names Drug Maker And Jewel Food Stores
Woman: Zicam Caused Loss Of Smell
Lawsuit Names Drug Maker And Jewel Food Stores
POSTED: 3:21 pm CST February 28, 2005
UPDATED: 6:01 pm CST February 28, 2005
CHICAGO -- A lawsuit filed Monday claimed a woman lost her sense of smell after taking a nasal cold medicine containing zinc, and said the maker of the drug and a store where she bought it were responsible -- although a drug company spokesman said the data supporting the claims were flawed.
Diane Horvat filed the lawsuit in Cook County Circuit Court against Matrixx Initiatives Inc., which manufactures a cold remedy called Zicam that is taken through the nose, and Jewel Food Stores, where the lawsuit said Horvat bought the medicine.
The lawsuit said Horvat bought the over-the-counter medicine on Aug. 28, 2004, and followed the directions in using it, then lost her sense of smell.
The lawsuit accused the makers of Zicam of product liability claims including negligence, claiming the makers knew the medicine could cause people to lose their sense of smell and failed to warn people of it, and also accused Zicam of breach of warranty.
The Jewel Food Stores company was accused in the lawsuit of negligence for carrying Zicam even though their officials "knew or should have known" it cause the loss of the sense of smell.
Unspecified damages were sought against both defendants.
Plaintiff attorney G. Grant Dixon claimed medical research going back decades indicated inhaling zinc into the nose can cause the sense of smell to be lost.
"Very basic ... research into this says that inhalation of zinc causes people to lose their sense of smell when injected into the nose," Dixon said.
"This is not rocket science; everybody knows about this in the medical community," Dixon said, accusing the makers of the drug of "putting profits over people."
But Matrixx spokesman Rob Murphy said the claims of the lawsuit were incorrect.
He said in September 2003, a University of Colorado researcher named Bruce Jafek showed a poster at a trade meeting based on one anecdotal case of Zicam being alleged to have caused a loss of the sense of smell.
Murphy said Jafek's conclusions were not backed up by sound evidence and other cases were not seen after that, but national media coverage followed and soon people began suing Matrixx for loss of smell, or anosmia.
Murphy added that Jafek's claims about the loss of smell from inhaling zinc refer to a Canadian study from 1930s. In that study, people suffering from polio inhaled high doses of zinc sulfate with a tool resembling a caulking gun, but, Murphy said, researchers in that study found that the zinc neither cured polio nor caused anosmia.
He called the lawsuit filed Monday and others like it, and the claims in the suits, a "travesty."
Jewel-Osco spokeswoman Lauri Sanders was not immediately available for comment. A court date had not been set Monday.
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