Consumer advocacy groups have been urging that Darvon and Darvocet, manufactured by the Xanodyne Company, and other propoxyphene-based painkillers be removed from the market for over 30 years. The Food and Drug Administration has finally complied, issuing a ban on the product on November 19th of 2010. However, many victims of Darvocet side effects might argue that this was not soon enough – the drug has been banned in the United Kingdom since 2005 and in Europe since 2009, and experts estimate that between 1,000 and 2,000 people in the United States have died while using the product since its U.K. ban.
At the beginning of January, there were only ten lawsuits related to propoxyphene-based products in federal courts. Already that number is increasing, and many are expecting an explosion in the number of lawsuits as public awareness of the drug and its side effects and symptoms is increased. Plaintiffs are demanding monetary compensation in order to cover medical costs, loss of income, and personal pain and suffering related to side effects of the medication.
Darvon, pure propoxyphene, and Darvocet, which is propoxyphene combined with acetaminophen, were only yanked from markets after a study concluded that propoxyphene, even in small and recommended doses, can alter the electrical activity of the heart, causing serious complications such as heart arrhythmia, sudden death, and the phenomenon that has come to be known as the “Darvocet heart attack”. There is no reason that people seeking relief from mild to moderate pain should be subjected to side effects as serious as these, and as new information comes to light about the product, more and more people are looking to take legal action.
Some experts even estimate that more than 10,000 people have died in the United States as a result of propoxyphene products, and the number of lawsuits related to them could top that amount as more information is released widely.
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