The family of a British grandfather who died after being given a painkiller that has been linked to dozens of tourist and expat deaths in Spain has spoken out to warn other Brits of the potentially deadly side effects of the drug.
Roy St Pierre, 77, had been cycling from his home in Portugal to see his family and newborn granddaughter in England when he was admitted to a hospital on the Costa Blanca with stomach pain.
There he was prescribed Nolotil, a painkiller which is common in Spain but banned in the UK, and has been known to wipe out patients’ white blood cells and increase the risk of sepsis.
Within hours of being given the drug, the grandfather-of-ten died of an infection after undergoing surgery, with his family saying his immune system had been ‘taken away when he needed it most’.
Roy’s daughter Eve has said that while she and his family will ‘never know for sure’ if Nolotil was to blame for his death, her otherwise fit and healthy father’s chances of survival were ‘scuppered’ by the drug.
Roy St Pierre, 77, had been cycling from his home in Portugal to see his family and newborn granddaughter in England when he was admitted to a hospital
Grandfather-of-ten Roy St Pierre with one of his daughters and granddaughter
The tragedy is the latest in a series of deaths linked to the drug in Spain. Nolotil is banned in more than 40 countries, including Britain
Metamizole, commonly sold under the brand Nolotil, is banned in the UK along with 40 other countries because of the risk of adverse side effects.
Two studies in Spain have suggested there is a higher risk of British and other northern European people suffering potentially fatal effects from the drug.
Despite warnings about dangerous side effects, it continues to be popular with doctors in Spain – many of whom work by the phrase ‘Nolotil if pain’ – as it is stronger than paracetamol and ibuprofen.
A government directive in 2018 advised all health facilities to stop giving out the painkiller without prescription, supposedly stopping it from being given to Brits.
But in the years since it has continued to be prescribed, including against people’s wishes or without their knowledge, campaigners have claimed.
The drug is also widely used in Portugal, the Netherlands and Germany, with its effects are being investigated in Spain and Brussels.
Eve St Pierre told MailOnline: ‘I want people who are going to Spain and Portugal just to know about it, there are people who have died after taking this drug.’
She pointed to the case of expat Mark Brooks, who was given Nolotil at his local health clinic on the Costa Blanca after suffering shoulder pain while playing golf.
The father-of-one quickly deteriorated, and was admitted to hospital where he went into a coma, suffered seven heart attacks in one night and died.
Mark Brooks, 42, was playing golf near his home in Alicante when he began to complain of shoulder pain. Pictured here with his partner Summer Moses
Medical documents shared by campaign group the Association for Drug Affected People (ADAF) later suggested that his death was the result of ‘an apparent allergic reaction to metamizole’ – the the drug commonly sold under the brand name Nolotil.
‘It is turning mild muscle pain into something that kills you, it’s despicable,’ Eve said.
Her father was an avid cyclist who decided to bike across the continent for the third time to visit his daughter and new grandchild in Hebden Bridge, Yorkshire, in March 2023.
The retired youth worker, who moved to the Algarve in 2020, shared daily updates about his trip on Facebook, and stopped off in Alicante to visit some old friends.
On March 25, he began to suffer from back pain, posting: ‘I was in agony in Almeria until the Ibuprofen kicked in.’
The pain persisted and a week later he went to a local health centre, which referred him to the Hospital Universitari Sant Joan d’Alacant.
Roy was an avid cyclist who decided to bike across the continent for the third time to visit his daughter and new grandchild in Hebden Bridge, Yorkshire, in March 2023
The retired youth worker, who was originally from London, moved to the Algarve in Portugal in 2020
He was told he had ‘nonspecific abdominal pain’, given medication and told to return the next day if he was still struggling.
The next morning he decided to go back to the hospital on his beloved bike, but came off and had to be picked up by an ambulance.
Doctors discovered Roy had a stomach ulcer he did not know about, which caused him to suffer a perforated bowel, and they decided that he would need surgery.
Ahead of the operation, he was given metamizole which his daughter said ‘tanked’ his white blood cells.
While she said the count had begun to go up before his surgery, his immunity remained ‘compromised’.
While the operation on his bowel was successful, Roy never regained consciousness, and died from sepsis on April 5.
‘It’s still a massive shock,’ Eve said. ‘I’m very much still in denial’.
The 41-year-old hadn’t seen her father for months before he moved to Portugal, and said he never got to meet her daughter.
The devoted grandfather and father-of-seven (pictured here with one of his grandchildren) was described as the ‘lynchpin’ of his family
She said losing Roy had left their family without its ‘lynchpin’, but that they took solace from the fact that the cycling enthusiast ‘died doing what he loved’.
Boehringer Ingelheim, the manufacturer that makes Nolotil, said in a statement: ‘Nolotil (metamizole) is a prescription-only medicine available in Spain, with a well-established safety profile and has been used by patients for almost 60 years.
‘Boehringer Ingelheim is one of 16 companies that supply metamizole in Spain. It has never been licensed for human use in the UK.
‘Patient safety is Boehringer Ingelheim’s top priority and we actively monitor the safety of our medicines on an ongoing basis and notify the relevant health authorities if new safety information becomes available.’
