Warning! One buflomedil may hide another one!

A 75-year-old woman experienced fever and convulsions. She was treated for diabetes mellitus, angina pectoris and also for arteritis with Buflomedil M erck(R) (3 tab/d). Further investigations failed to find any aetiology. Buf lomedil dosage was elevated to 6.3 mg/l (N=4-4.5 mg/l). The drug was discon tinued and there was no recurrence of symptoms. There was no evidence of er ror in dosage or interaction. A failure of the generic product was suspecte d. Only a pharmacist solved the problem. Fonzylane(R) (buflomedil) had rece ntly been switched to Buflomedil Merck(R) The patient misunderstood the cha nge and took both drugs! Our purpose is not to report a known effect but to emphasize the importance of extending the information given to the patient and the risk of misuse of the generic product.