A coroner has urged the Health Products Regulatory Authority (HPRA) to sustain its research into the side effects of Glatiramer Acetate (GA), also known as Copaxone, a medication frequently utilised to treat multiple sclerosis (MS). This advice was given following the demise of Elaine Quinn, a 40-year-old mother of two, who endured a fatal anaphylactic shock at her Ross, Castlebar, Co Mayo residence on 12th February 2022 and drew her last breath at Mayo University Hospital (MUH) three days later.
On Monday, an open verdict was delivered at a Swinford inquest by Pat O’Connor, the District Coroner for Mayo, who stipulated that the HPRA should keep researching the drug and keep both the public and the medical fraternity abreast of its findings. Elaine Quinn’s cause of death was identified as a lethal cerebral ischemia and an anaphylactic shock.
Geraldine Maloney, a senior Anesthetist at MUH, testified that after an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest, Quinn was admitted to intensive care on 9th February 2022. She was administered antiviral, antibiotic, antiepileptic, and steroid medicine throughout the day. However, her condition deteriorated, and she passed away three days later.
Dr Donal Tighe, a consultant gastroenterologist and general physician at MUH, noted that information from Quinn’s family showed that she collapsed shortly after taking her MS medication, Copaxone, prompting an ambulance call. Given the timing of her collapse, Dr Tighe proposed the likelihood that the drug induced the fatal anaphylactic shock.
Further examination of medical literature revealed rare instances of anaphylactic reactions to GA in patients who had been on the treatment for some time. However, no fatalities were found to have been directly linked to these reactions. Tighe then suggested the possibility of an anaphylactic reaction caused by the GA injection leading to a devastating brain injury from which Quinn, unfortunately, couldn’t recover.
In a letter presented as evidence at the inquest, it was disclosed that consultant neurologist Dr Michael J. Hennessy used Glatiramer Acetate (GA) as a standard treatment for multiple sclerosis over the last two decades. He affirmed its reputation as a highly safe method of MS immune system modulation. This made the revelation of it potentially provoking an anaphylactic reaction in the patient simultaneously alarming and unexpected—as well as strongly indicative of a correlation between the patient’s sudden collapse and the injected agent. Dr Hennessy stated he was yet to come across any prior instance where a death was caused by anaphylaxis in a patient undergoing this particular regimen. Following completion of the examination and the issuance of an open verdict, Coroner O’Connor stressed the importance of deriving lessons from the unfortunate demise of the young mother.