Benefits of an antibiotic linked to rare reports of severe liver problems, including several deaths, outweigh its risks in treating pneumonia but not less serious bacterial infections like bronchitis and sinusitis, federal health advisers said last week.
The nonbinding recommendations raise the prospect the Food and Drug Administration could modify its approval of the Sanofi-Aventis SA drug, called Ketek, to exclude the treatment of the two lesser infections, which often clear up without drug treatment.
