FDA Pulls Painkiller Due To Safety Risks (Darvon, Darvocet)

AP/theindychannel ^ | November 19, 2010 | Matthew Perrone

[Abathar]

WASHINGTON -- The maker of the painkiller Darvon is pulling the drug off the market at the request of public health officials who say the more than 50-year-old pill causes potentially deadly heart rhythms.

The Food and Drug Administration said Friday that Xanodyne Pharmaceuticals had agreed to halt all U.S. marketing of Darvon and the related brand Darvocet, which have been subject to safety concerns for decades. The Kentucky company confirmed the move in its own statement.

The FDA also called on generic drugmakers to stop marketing low-cost drugs containing the active ingredient in Darvon, called propoxyphene.

Britain and the European Union decided to ban Darvon in 2005 and 2009, respectively, due to a long trend of suicides and accidental overdoses.

[Abathar]

FYI

[gwilhelm56]

Took darvon about 30 years ago..and it’s only NOW that the FDA has Realized it’s DANGEROUS????

G-D HELP US ALL!!!!

[ICCtheWay]

Total Bogus action - 50 years in use as a moderate pain killer ... and no evidence in actual use in clinics, hospitals, and a hundred other places of this drug causing any harm - just a study... financed by whom - a competitor ?

[cherry]

more nonsense.....what will be left for people that have pain?....just a bullet to the head...????

here's a clue folks....there isn't a single med. out there that has no side effects....none.....

its better to be on an occassional Darvon than to have to take oxycontin....which is highly addictive....I'm sure there's more people in jail right now for oxycontin drug dealing than all the people harmed by Darvon...

[ICCtheWay]

There is no real world proof - just a study. It doesn’t matter that Millions of people have taken this drug myself included and where is the real world evidence - answer - there is none.

[ICCtheWay]

I wonder if the CEO and Chairman of the Board of the manufacturing company contributed to the Republican Party and are not enemies of the state.

[mathurine]

Must be there is something much more expensive that the feds are pushing.

[mathurine]

Must be there is something much more expensive that the feds are pushing.

[ICCtheWay]

I meant to say ‘Are now enemies of the state’

[Doulos1]

A drug that has been used for 50 years being pulled off the shelves by the Obama administration. Obama is doing what he can to destroy our country. He hasn’t let up since his ‘ordination’.
We are receiving the punishment of fools for allowing this man in that office. Foolish liberals and useful idiots are wrecking havoc. God help us.

[ColdOne]

Well there goes my theory that they will give pain pills to the elderly and let them die? Now they are going to just let them die in pain...

[henkster]

Taken as directed and discontinued as recommended, the drug is safe and effective. However, it is potentially habit-forming and subject to abuse. I’ll bet most of the cases in the studies were a result not of taking prescribed doses, but rather abuse.

[donna]

Me, too!

[jazminerose]

I take darvocet for a knee injury.

Now they tell us?

[Esther Ruth]

Praise God! No darvon, opiates, opium, poppys etc - all wicked evil stuff! What are all the black magic politicians gonna do with all the stuff from afganistan now - probably cook up some other kind of evil wicked stronger brew to dose people with - beware!!

Good! Now the doctors won't be pushing this poison on people, looking them up and down like creeps for not wanting to take this stuff after surgery etc.

[LaineyDee]

I’ll bet most of the cases in the studies were a result not of taking prescribed doses, but rather abuse.

I doubt it. I've been taking Darvocet for over 11 yrs due to an old injury. My average is about 1 or 2 a month at best. Most Dr's have laughed at me saying it's nothing but a glorified aspirin.....but it works to get me over the hump and it doesn't make me loopy.

Hydrocodone is the "drug of choice" for most RX abusers...and I can't take it because of the intense side effects. This smells like competition....IMHO. In the meantime...I guess I'm out of luck.

[ladyvet]

Ahhh Darvon, brings back childhood memories of my mother getting sick of hearing our Siamese cat yowling while in heat. She got the brilliant idea that Darvon would “calm” the cat. She overdosed it and it died.

[yarddog]

I suspect there really is something to this.

Back in 1970, our athletic trainer gave me darvon for pain. I noticed the next day my heart seemed to be racing at times. The trainer told me to quit taking it and I did.

I always mention that at the hospital etc. but have always wondered if it was actually the darvon. Now I am pretty sure it was.

[Sans-Culotte]

I doubt it. I've been taking Darvocet for over 11 yrs due to an old injury. My average is about 1 or 2 a month at best. Most Dr's have laughed at me saying it's nothing but a glorified aspirin.....but it works to get me over the hump and it doesn't make me loopy.

Sigh...I really miss Vioxx...

[Kieri]

I take Percocet every day for chronic pain. If they ever pull that from the market, I’m screwed.