Acute thioproline poisoning.

Thiazolidine-4-carboxylic acid (A.T.C.) has been marketed in France since 1964 for the treatment of hepatic and biliary disorders. [Hepalidine (Riker Lab.): Packs of 20 tablets, each containing 100 mg. Thiobiline (Riker Lab.): Packs of 20 vials, each containing 100 mg.] As early as 1970, both the Paris and Marseilles Poison Control Centres had emphasized the toxicity of this drug which induces convulsions in children subject of overdosage [1]. Brugarolas and Gosalvez have recently suggested the use of A.T.C. in the treatment of epidermoid carcinoma. They believe that the drug causes reverse transformation of tumor cells to normal ones [2]. If its efficiency is confirmed, A.T.C. should soon be very widely used and therefore its therapeutic risk needs to be clarified.