If the British recognize that the drug propoxyphene is too dangerous to prescribe to patients, what’s keeping Americans from realizing the same thing?
The U.K. began a phased withdrawal of Darvocet, which contains propoxyphene, from the British market in 2005, after the U.K. Committee on Safety of Medicines recommended that they do so. In its report, the CSM stated that it could not “identify any patient group in whom the risk-benefit [ratio] may be positive.” The withdrawal was completed at the end of 2007.
It’s not that Americans haven’t tried to tell the government to pull propoxyphene off drug store shelves. In 2006, Public Citizen petitioned the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to withdraw all drugs containing propoxyphene, including Darvon and Darvocet, from the market because of the drug’s hazardous side effects. However, the FDA still has not granted or denied the petition. So now Public Citizen is filing a complaint in the D.C. District Court in the District of Columbia asking it to compel the FDA to make a decision.
