Posted on 01/31/2009 5:59:26 PM PST by neverdem
WASHINGTON — Government medical advisers recommended a ban Friday on Darvon, a prescription medicine that’s been used to treat pain for more than 50 years but left a trail of problems such as addiction and suicide.
A Food and Drug Administration advisory panel voted 14-12 to recommend withdrawing Darvon after a daylong hearing examining its risks and benefits. The FDA is not required to follow the recommendations of its advisers, but it often does so...
(Excerpt) Read more at star-telegram.com ...
I took that once....so who do I get to sue?
The copywrite is long gone.
You mean the patent, which would probably be the reason for banning it. Can't have cheap medicine.
Zact’ly. I knew “copywrite” wasn’t the right word but I couldn’t pull “Patent” out of the brain file.
Overkill by the govt. again. These guys should be doing something more important, like busting whores in Tijuana.
I wonder if there is an anti-salivation medicine that could be prescribed for the drooling tort lawyers learning about this news. Is it too late for them to cobble up a “have you ever lost a loved one who taking the prescription medicine Darvon? If so call Chase at 1-800-amb-ulance” and get it to run during the super bowl?
All pain killers have those problems associated with them. You might as well ban them all and give leather straps to folks to bite on. I would like to see the science in support of those dolts.
The consumer group Public Citizen had petitioned the FDA to withdraw Darvon because the drug offers relatively weak pain relief and poses an overdose risk, with the potential to be used in suicides.
First question: Who is this group Public Citzen?
Second question: So who are the 14 idiots who voted to ban it based on something which could be said about any narcotic? Will this be the new standard? God help us if it is.
But they can’t, they wouldn’t know a Tijuana whore if they saw one, the only kind they are familiar with are the one roaming the halls of Congress.
There may be a new trend in meds taking place. One Pharm co last year altered the strength of one of its meds so they could re-issue it as a ‘new’ drug. That way, it is no longer ‘generic’ and can be marketed at full price.
I wonder who is actually behind having Darvon pulled — and why. In cases like this, I tend to go with the advice of Judge Judy: follow the money.
End the failed drug war.
Public Citizen
Founded in 1971 by Ralph Nader and Alan Morrison
another quote from the article:
“...”With a drug that has almost no evidence of benefit, any risk is unacceptable,” said Dr. Sidney Wolfe, a drug safety expert with Public Citizen who first sought a ban in the 1970s. “Hopefully the FDA will follow the vote of its advisers.”...”
I agree with mdmathis6. With serious chronic pain, you might as well knock them unconscious with a baseball bat. I know a few people who are unnoticeable addicted with Davon who are functional, members of society. But when they forget to refill their prescription become miserable cripples with the pain and the withdrawal symptoms. Ironically, it is the withdrawal from opiates based drugs that drives people crazy in the search for more drugs, not necessarily under the influence of the the drugs themselves.
The organization currently is headed by Joan Claybrook, who was head of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) during the Carter administration, 1977 to 1981.
Sidney Wolfe, M.D., Director of Public Citizen’s Health Research Group
Stir over Darvon
Monday, Dec. 04, 1978
As director of Ralph Nader’s Health Research Group, Dr. Sydney Wolfe has prodded federal agencies into protecting the public against a number of health hazards, from Red Dye No. 2 to chloroform. Though Wolfe’s critics grudgingly acknowledge his effectiveness, they maintain that he is overzealous. Last week Wolfe gave critics some new ammunition.
In a letter to HEW Secretary Joseph Califano, Wolfe asked for an immediate ban on the sale of the widely prescribed pain reliever propoxyphene, best known as Darvon. He claimed not only that Darvon is an ineffective painkiller, but also that in excessive doses it produces a euphoric high, which he says, “makes it attractive as a drug of abuse. This is tantamount to legalized dope.” Further, said Wolfe, Darvon-related deaths in the U.S. have been increasing, rising in major cities to about 600 last year and making the compound “the deadliest prescription drug in the United States.” Eli Lilly and Co., of Indianapolis, the principal manufacturer, promptly branded Wolfe’s charges “irresponsible and clearly not supported by the facts.”
Darvon-related deaths have often involved intentional misuse, either by overdosing or mixing with alcohol and other drugs. Lilly notes that the average person would have to take 30 large-size Darvon capsules at one time (the usual dose is one every four hours) to cause death, 15 if he were intoxicated. Further, the drug is a controlled substance—a prescription is good for only five refills within six months. (If HEW will not ban Darvon, Wolfe wants the drug reclassified so that prescriptions cannot be refilled.)
Get used to seeing more of these “Drug ban recommended” articles. The porkulus bill has that Council for Comparative Effectiveness Research money in it and once they’re up and running, they’ll ban all kinds of stuff - mostly things we need, or like or things that allow their friends to make more cash.
I’m sharpening my pitchfork...
Bastids!
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