Exclusive: British relatives of Nolotil ‘victims’ blast the EU’s health agency for ruling in favour of the painkiller

BRITISH relatives of people who died after taking Nolotil have blasted a ruling in favour of the painkiller by the European Medicines Agency (EMA). 

The families have spoken out after the EMA revealed they would not be banning the ‘deadly’ medication despite campaigners’ repeated calls for action. 

Nolotil, and other products containing the active ingredient metamizole, have been linked to over 40 deaths of British and Irish people alone in Spain. 

READ MORE: Anti-Nolotil campaigner blasts EU health chiefs after they ruled in favour of the controversial painkiller – despite its links to British deaths 

Nonetheless, the EMA ruled the ‘benefits outweighed the risks’ of using the mid-tier painkiller. 

Over the past seven years, the Olive Press has reported on many instances of Nolotil being administered for minor injuries such as back issues and shoulder injuries. 

For British expat Chris Cooper, he is ‘still baffled’ nine years after his ‘bright and happy’ wife died after taking Nolotil for a bruised leg.

Patricia Cooper was just 55 when she fell over on their Mijas terrace, bruising her leg. 

The Las Lagunas resident quickly called Helicopteros Sanitarios, who treated Pat, prescribing her Nolotil to control the pain. 

Within a few days, the bruising had spread across her knee and foot, prompting a visit to Hospital Costa del Sol. 

READ MORE: ‘Benefits’ of painkiller ‘outweigh the risks’, say European health chiefs – despite scores of British deaths linked to the drug

There, she was given more Nolotil and over the next week, the bruising went a deep black colour and became infected.

Nolotil, whose main active ingredient is metamizole, is known to decrease the amount of white blood cells in northern european patients, weakening the immune system. 

Worried sick, Chris took Pat back to hospital where the shocked couple were informed Pat needed urgent surgery to remove the bruised area. 

He told the Olive Press: “So much had to be removed that you could see bone. It was horrific.”

A few days later on their 35th wedding anniversary, Chris was informed Pat’s esophagus had split and needed surgery. 

“After the operation, they told me I couldn’t go home as it wasn’t healing properly and her system was struggling,” he told the Olive Press.

“I couldn’t believe it, I thought she was going to die on our wedding anniversary, it was awful.” 

READ MORE: ‘Our mum died after taking Nolotil in Benidorm for a slipped disk’

Thankfully, Pat pulled through but was left ‘forever changed’. 

The once healthy grandmother was ‘so weak she couldn’t walk.’ 

Then she fell out of bed one morning, leading to further bruising. 

At Hospital Costa del Sol, she was given antibiotics but they failed and Pat eventually died of sepsis, a common side effect of Nolotil, that day. 

“It was devastating to see her eyes close after being together for 35 years,” he said. 

“She meant everything to me. I couldn’t understand why it happened so quickly, she’d gone from being fine to being dead.”

READ MORE: ‘If he hadn’t gone to Spain he would still be alive’: British family of ‘first known Nolotil victim’ speak out 

Nine years later, 77-year-old Chris is still ‘devastated’. 

He said: “When we decided to move to Spain from Norfolk, Pat said to me: ‘my home is where my heart is and my heart is with you’, I have lost my home.”

For him, the decision to rule in favour of Nolotil is ‘motivated by financial pressure from the drug company’.

“It needs to be banned. There’s a high proportion of people that have died but money wins over victims,” he said.  

The family members of other victims have also expressed their outrage. 

Eve St Pierre, whose beloved father Roy died after a brush with the drug, says the decision is ‘meaningless’. 

Roy, a 77-year-old expat living in Portugal, was cycling across Spain when he was given Nolotil in Alicante. 

READ MORE: British expat grandfather-of-ten died after taking Nololtil painkiller while cycling through Spain

He died of sepsis within 24 hours of being administered the painkiller for back pain. 

But Eve, like many victims and their loved ones, argues the risks do not outweigh the benefits. 

Eve said: “The risk to benefit decision is meaningless if it’s not explained to patients before they’re given it. 

“It’s meaningless if the people who are prescribing it have no idea they aren’t supposed to give it to ‘non-residents’.”

In 2018, the Spanish Medicines Agency issued an ‘informative note’ advising physicians not to give the medicine to ‘floating populations’ that cannot be followed up, such as tourists. 

It also should not be administered without a background check, due to the potential risks for certain populations such as Northern Europeans. 

However, the Olive Press understands that this note was simply an email sent around to hospitals and it is unlikely it was remembered, or even noticed, by most staff. 

Eve continued: “The money that they [the EMA] spent on this inquiry and drafting this report could have been spent on creating an alert on the computer systems prescribers use to stop them prescribing it to ‘at risk populations’.”

“The only positive I can draw is that the publicity might reach people from at-risk groups, who can read the information themselves and make their own risk to benefit decisions.”

READ MORE: What is Nolotil? The painkiller sold in Spain that’s been linked to dozens of British deaths