Darvon, Darvocet painkillers pulled from the U.S. market

[struggle4progress]

The manufacturer of the painkillers agrees to stop marketing the drugs at the request of the FDA. The drugs' core compound, propoxyphene, has been linked to serious and sometimes fatal heart rhythm abnormalities.

WASHINGTON — The maker of Darvon and Darvocet announced Friday that it will stop marketing the widely used painkillers in the U.S. because of a new study linking the active ingredient in the drugs to serious and sometimes fatal heart rhythm abnormalities.

Xanodyne Pharmaceuticals Inc., of Newport, Ky., agreed to the ban at the request of the Food and Drug Administration, which also asked makers of generic versions of the drugs' core compound, known as propoxyphene, to stop selling it in the U.S.

The decision to yank propoxyphene brings the U.S. in line with regulatory agencies in Britain and the European Union, which pulled the drug from the market more than a year ago.

Propoxyphene was first approved by the FDA in 1957, but has been shadowed for years by safety concerns ...

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/sc-dc-1120-fda-darvon-web-20101119,0,6525838.story

[FLyellowdog]

1. They make me throw up anyway.

:puke:

[Nite Owl]

2. Oh great, it's the only painkiller

that works for me. I get almost no side effects from Darvocet.

[Lint Head]

3. Every drug has a side negative effect except pot.

Ibuprofen is bad for your kidneys, Acetaminophen is bad for your liver. Aspirin is bad for your stomach. On and on.

[Warpy]

4. That's really too bad

The stuff never did a damned thing for me but it's been a great pain drug for elderly people who react badly to opiates.

I don't know what they're going to do with these folks after surgery now beyond tying them down while the morphine is on board and they're wigging out from it.