Europe Regulator Advises Ban on Painkiller - - by Jeanne Wahlen
Europe's main medical regulator recommended that a 50-year-old painkiller, already largely ordered off shelves in some places, be withdrawn from the European market out of concern that patients have been fatally overdosing from it. The drug is known by the generic names dextropropoxyphene in Europe and propoxyphene in the U.S. It is still on the market in the U.S., where the Food and Drug Administration is considering whether to withdraw it. The drug is an opioid that is widely used to treat mild to moderate pain. It was first introduced in the U.S. in 1957 by Eli Lilly & Co., under the brand name Darvon. Today it is marketed by a variety of generic-drug makers. Critics of the drug have been trying to have it withdrawn from the market for years.
The European Medicines Agency, or EMEA, said a "significant" number of Europeans have died by overdosing with the drug, either accidentally or intentionally.
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