FDA Advisers Recommend Ban on Darvon
Published: January 30, 2009
Updated: January 30, 2009
WASHINGTON (AP) - Government advisers are recommending a ban on
Darvon, a painkiller that’s been around for 50 years.
A Food and Drug Administration advisory panel voted 14-12 Friday
to recommend withdrawing Darvon after a hearing on its risks and
benefits. The drug was first approved in 1957, when there were few
alternatives for pain except aspirin and powerful narcotics.
Now mainly marketed as Darvocet, which includes a dose of
acetaminophen, the drug remains one of the top 25 most commonly
prescribed medications. More than 20 million prescriptions were
written in 2007.
The consumer group Public Citizen said the FDA should withdraw
Darvon because the drug offers weak pain relief and poses an
overdose risk, with the potential to be used in suicides.
(Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
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Reader Reactions
Just more evidence that the FDA needs to be restaffed by President Obama.
Darvon has been reliable for half a century. Perfect for pain that exceeds Aspirin but one can still function well while under it’s influence unlike harder painkillers.
Everyone needs to keep in mind that the FDA also approved all the Chinese garbage that has been poisoning our people and others.
Ban Darvon? The VA just tried to give me Diclofenac as an anti-inflammatory.
Go ahead, Google it and see what it does to people and the environment.
Obama appointed Frank M. Torti to the FDA just days ago and the agency my well get better soon. But right now the same old Bush-era clowns are there making the same old out-of-touch decisions.
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