Progress in liver injury research reported

WASHINGTON, June 1 (UPI) -- The U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced advancements in the understanding of the genetic basis for drug-inducted liver injury.

The FDA said the International Serious Adverse Event Consortium has identified a genetic link associated with liver injury in some people who receive the antibiotic Flucloxacillin, a drug widely used in Europe and Australia, but not available in the United States.

"Drug-induced liver injury or DILI occurs in a small subset of patients," the FDA said Sunday. "It is often associated with a drug of unpredictable liver toxicity, and may be the cause of acute liver failure in some patients. Although the exact mechanism of DILI is unknown, research suggests that a person's genes contribute to their likelihood of developing the injury.

Dr. Janet Woodcock, director of the FDA's Center for Drug Evaluation and Research, said the findings provide novel genomic data and make an important contribution to the science of drug safety.

The results of the research appear in the July issue of the journal Nature Genetics.