Novartis Employs Some Of The Best Med-ical researchers in the world, and they have cre-ated such lifesavers as Gleevec, which treats a deadly form of leukemia. But what is the fourth-biggest seller in the Novartis medicine cabinet? No lifesaver. It's Lamisil, a pill for— horrors!—toenail fungus. The main effect of the fungus is that it turns the toenail yellow; it can hurt, but no one has died of this inconvenience. But a few people may have died taking Lamisil. Federal regulators have linked the drug to 16 cases of liver failure, including 11 deaths. Novartis says most of the patients had preexisting illnesses or were also on other drugs.
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