What is disturbing is that propoxyphene have been serving as painkillers since the 1950s. however, the FDA is finally pulling the products as a result of new proof that the drugs have deadly heart side effects even among healthy people taking normal doses.
According to the New York Times, the agency has recommended that doctors and pharmacists immediately stop prescribing these drugs, and advice patients to discard the drugs.
Public Citizen's Health Research Group director Dr. Sidney Wolfe had put in a peition to the FDA to ban the drug twice: once in 1978 and 2006. The delay has cost more than 1,000 American lives, the New York Times reported.
"Due to FDA negligence, at least 1,000 to 2,000 or more people in the U.S. have died from using propoxyphene since the time the U.K. ban was announced," Wolfe said in a news release, according to WebMD.com.
What goes on when Darvocet and Darvon enter the body? A MedWatch report Friday said that these "therapeutic" drugs caused changes to electrical activity in the heart, causing irregular heart beats that could be deadly. Formally known as heart arrhythmia, the abnormal heartbeat was prevalent in healthy patients.
Darvocet, which has a combination of propoxyphene and acetaminophen, is the most popular form of the drug, The associated Press reported. During a 2009 FDA meeting, officials referenced studies that showed most of the patient's pain relief from using Darvocet actually came from acetaminophen.
Do you think that the ban took place too late in the game?
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