Technology Slice Blog

Darvocet Has Been Recalled, Should Have Been Earlier - The prominent consumer watchdog Public Citizen is blasting the FDA for waiting too long before issuing a Darvon and Darvocet recall late last week. In a statement issued on Friday, Public Citizen called for congressional hearings into FDA leadership, saying that negligence on behalf of the agency has resulted in between 1,000 and 2,000 additional Darvon and Darvocet deaths during the years after it should have recalled all propoxyphene drugs. Darvon was first introduced in 1957, containing propoxyphene to relieve mild to moderate post-surgical pain. Today it is most commonly prescribed as Darvocet, which combines the active ingredient in Darvon with acetaminophen, the active ingredient in Tylenol. Darvocet has become one of the most 25 most commonly prescribed medications, which has been prescribed to more than 22 million people. According to data from the Federal Drug Abuse Warning Network, deaths related to Darvocet, Darvo...

Has Darvocet Been Recalled - Xanodyne Pharmaceuticals, Inc. is cooperating with the FDA in recalling Darvocet and Darvon, their versions of the pain killer propoxyphene. Darvon, which is also sold as Darvocet (with acetaminophen added), could cause serious and potentially fatal heart rhythm abnormalities, according to new clinical data reviewed by the FDA. An outside advisory panel to the FDA recommended last year that Darvon and Darvocet be pulled from the market after concluding that the pain relief benefits of the drugs didn’t outweigh the significant risk of side effects related to overdose and addiction. However, the FDA is not required to follow the advice of the panel, and the two pain killers remained on the market until recent electrocardiography data from a clinical study revealed QT interval abnormalities occurred in healthy people taking normal doses of the drugs. The main active drug in Darvocet and Darvon is propoxyphene, which the FDA has also removed from the marke...