A popular anti-sickness drug was withdrawn less than a year after a woman using it died, an inquest heard yesterday.

Lynn McCaul, 30, of, south Belfast, was the fifth person in the UK to die suddenly while being prescribed Cisapride, Belfast coroners court was told. The Northern Ireland pathologist, Professor Jack Crane, found no anatomical cause for Ms McCaul's death.

He told her inquest there were no abnormalities in her heart, nor any physical illness to explain her death.

However, he noted that Ms McCaul was taking a prescribed drug, Cisapride, at the time of her death in August 1999, which had reported adverse reactions, including death.

He wrote of his concerns to the committee of safety of medicines after examining Ms McCaul's body.

Cisapride lost its prescribing licence the following July after it was also linked to four other deaths in Britain. Records showed 38 sudden deaths in the US between 1993 and 1998 which may have been connected with the use of Cisapride, the court heard.

Ms McCaul was prescribed Cisapride after suffering from bouts of nausea since 1997.

The coroner, Deborah Malcolm, said it was very unusual not to find a definite cause of death.