A new allergen in the pharmaceutical industry

Jungewelter S, Aalto-Korte K.
Section of Dermatology, Finnish Institute of Occupational Health (FIOH), 
Case Report

Worker: 26 year old pharmaceutical worker, no history of atopic disease is working on the synthesis of flutaminde, an anti-androgen drug used in the treatment of prostatic cancer.

Symptoms: pruritis, erythema of face, upper thorax and neck

Timeframe: pruritis after 1 hr, erythema after 3 hrs, lasting 3 days.

Strong allergic reaction in skin prick test with N-(3-trifluoromethyl-4-nitrophenyl)phthalimide.

Occupational allergic contact dermatitis from N-(3-trifluoromethyl-4-nitrophenyl)phthalimide, an intermediate in the production of flutamide.

This allergy was not reported previously. There are several reports on cutaneus photosensitivity reactions in patients taking flutamide for prostate carcinoma.