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Years before the November 2010 FDA recall of the drug propoxyphene that led to the proliferation of Darvon and Darvocet lawsuits, a Swedish physician was warning of the dangers of propoxyphene products, calling them, “the worst drugs ever.” That same doctor also believes that Darvocet litigation could become bigger than Vioxx, the maker of which (Merck) paid $4.85 billion to settle the cases against it in 2008.
While the FDA may have only recently ordered the withdrawal of all products containing propoxyphene, controversy surrounding the painkiller dates back to the 1970s, when the group Public Citizen first petitioned the United States government to ban the drug. Ulf Jonasson, a Doctor of Public Health in Sweden, visited the U.S. in 2003 and 2004, meeting with doctors at Public Citizen, which issued a second petition for pro-poxyphene’s ban in 2006. Jonasson and his wife (Birgitta Jonasson, PhD) have been researching Darvon and Darvocet side effects since 1993. “We have researched Darvon side effects since 1993, and Public Citizen has worked hard to ban the drug before that,” said Jonasson. “There could have been hundreds of thousands of deaths due to Darvon and Darvocet over the past 50 years.”
Jonasson has published a number of reports about deaths caused by dextropropoxyphene (what the drug is referred to in Europe), and his efforts helped create new prescription regulations for the drug in Sweden in 2001. According to Jonasson, the new measures resulted in a decrease in dextropropoxyphene product sales by 66 percent, and a reduction in fatal dextropropoxyphene overdoses by 62 percent in Sweden during the following years.
Jonasson states that his research led to decisions by numerous countries to ban propoxyphene outright. “Our research was behind the decision in Sweden, the UK, and the European Union (EU) to stop using the drug but it took a lot longer in the US.”
Quite a bit longer, in fact. The EU announced a ban of propoxyphene nearly 1. 5 years prior to the FDA’s announcement, and the UK banned the drug in 2005. Public Citizen believes that had the FDA issued a recall at the same time the UK did, 1,000 to 2,000 U.S. lives could have been saved.
Jonasson says that, “Since 1999 we have informed the FDA about our research, and they know about our eight scientific articles about DXP and our two doctoral dissertations…” Explaining why the FDA may have waited so long to recall propoxyphene, he explains that, “We believe the FDA is influenced very much by the drug companies, and we know that Eli Lilly, the Darvon manufacturer (the original manufacturer; Darvon and Darvocet are currently manufactured by Xanodyne Pharmaceuticals, Inc.), has known about Darvon side effects for many years.”
Many plaintiffs have actually filed charges against both Xanodyne and Eli Lilly, alleging that the companies knew about Darvon and Darvocet’s severe, life-threatening side effects, but failed to take action. If you suffered a heart attack, stroke, arrhythmia, or other cardiac injury, or a loved one suffered a fatal overdose from propoxyphene, you may be able to file a lawsuit seeking compensation for your losses. The Rottenstein Law Group, a firm with more than 25 years of experience in product liability law, is currently providing complimentary case reviews. To have your Darvon/Darvocet lawsuit evaluated for free, just fill out this form or call 1 (888) 976-8529.
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