Muscoril and other thiocolchicoside-based muscle relaxants are carcinogenic and genotoxic
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19th June 2024
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Thiocolchicoside-based muscle relaxants - including the well-known Muscoril - are indicated for dealing with muscle contractures, in particular those affecting the spine. However, all drugs based on this active ingredient represent a risk factor for male fertility and the fetus, as well as a potential carcinogenic risk.
Muscoril and other carcinogenic muscle relaxants
The leaflet of Muscoril published on 10 April 2024 by AIFA, the Italian Medicines Agency, reports that the medicine 'It is used in adults and adolescents, aged 16 and over, to help treat painful muscle contractures. It should be used for acute conditions related to the spine'.
The drug it must not be taken, among other conditions, by men and women capable of procreating who are not using an 'effective' method of contraception to avoid pregnancy.
The reason is that 'one of the substances formed in the body when you take thiocolchicoside could cause damage to some cells (abnormal number of chromosomes). This has been proven in animal studies and in laboratory studies. In humans, this type of cell damage is a possible risk factor for cancer and could harm the fetus and impair male fertility'. (1)
The teratogenic risk (of damage to the fetus) after taking the drug lasts for three months in men and for one month in women.
Risk/benefit ratio
The gravity of the 'side effects' (to be added to others) raises doubts about the usefulness of such a muscle relaxant drug.
The authoritative research group French independent Prescribing in the 2024 budget of drugs to avoid cuts short: 'The various drugs used as muscle relaxants do not have a proven efficacy superior to that of placebo, but they expose patients to sometimes serious side effects.
An effective pain medication is a better option, starting with paracetamol, with controlled dosage, or even ibuprofen or naproxen.
Thiocolchicoside (Miorel° or others), similar to colchicine, can cause diarrhea, gastralgia, photodermatitis and possibly convulsions; it is genotoxic and teratogenic'. (2)
18 drugs based on thiocolchicoside
In the ranking of the 30 most consumed active ingredients in Italy in 2022, thiocolchicoside is in eighteenth place and is worth a cost of 41,9 million euros per year. (3)
The best known Muscoril it was just sold by Sanofi to DOC, an Italian pharmaceutical company that also produces generic drugs and already owned a generic drug with the same active ingredient as Muscoril. (4)
Source: Daily Health 2.4.19
In total, 15 pharmaceutical companies produce 18 medicines (including tablets and vials for injection) based on thiocolchicoside, according to the list released by AIFA in 2019 in the margin of the memo to doctors on 'the restrictions and warnings related to the potential risk of genotoxicity'. (5)
Marta Strinati
Note
(2) Thiocolchicoside (Miorel° ou other) – a medicine à écarter des soins. Prescribe. https://www.prescrire.org/Fr/202/1837/55966/0/PositionDetails.aspx
(3) The use of drugs in Italy. National report for 2022. National observatory on the use of medicines. AIFA https://www.aifa.gov.it/documents/20142/1967301/Rapporto-OsMed-2022.pdf
(4) Doc: agreement signed for the acquisition of Muscoril from Sanofi. Sanità24, IlSole24Ore. 26.4.24
(5) Medicinal products containing thiocolchicoside for systemic use IMPORTANT REMINDER regarding restrictions and warnings related to the potential risk of genotoxicity. AIFA. 14.3.19 https://www.aifa.gov.it/documents/20142/241044/NII_TCC_14.03.2019.pdf
