I just saw this on the Web MD Chronic Pain newsletter. I am not sure how many use these meds that have been around for 50 years but I have heard them mentioned.
Reta
FDA Panel Urges Ban of Pain Drug
Experts Recommend Stopping Sale of Darvon, Darvocet
By Todd Zwillich
WebMD Health NewsReviewed by Louise Chang, MDJan. 30, 2009 -- An FDA advisory panel narrowly voted Friday to recommend that a popular pain drug used in dozens of products should be pulled from the market.
The drug, called propoxyphene, has been sold in U.S. pharmacies for more than 50 years and today is used in dozens of generic pain medications. Two brand-name versions of the drug, Darvon and Darvocet, are used by millions of patients each year, according to the FDA.
The panel vote was 14-12 in favor of a recommendation to halt sales of the drugs. The FDA officials say it will take them at least several weeks to decide whether to ban propoxyphene from the market.
"It's not a very clear-cut picture," Sharon Hertz, MD, deputy director of the agency's analgesia drugs division, told reporters. "It's not straightforward that it should or shouldn't come off the market...."
http://www.webmd.com/pain-management/news/20090130/fda-panel-urges-ban-of-a-pain-drugReta
