Nimesulide

Nimesulide, a prescription-only drug for severe pain and fever, caused several thousand cases of dangerous side effects, including fatalities after it was used on children, Beijing News reports, citing CCTV.

The medicine is freely available without a medical prescription in drug stores in many cities, including Beijing and Xiamen. A Nimesulide product produced by Suzhou Yushi Pharmaceutical says the drug can be used on children over the age of 1.

The drug was never approved in the U.S., and the European Medicines Agency banned it in 2007 on children under 12 and stressed that using it carried risk of serious liver damage.