Watchdog Alert: Darvocet Deadly

A call has been issued to Americans by consumer advocacy association US Drug Watchdog. The group asks for help in disseminating vital information about the potentially very serious side effects of Darvon and Darvocet.
US Drug Watchdog belongs to a larger organization, America’s Watchdog, and acts as its pharmaceutical branch. In December 2010 they released an announcement about the dangerous side effects of propoxyphene, a painkiller found in both Darvon and Darvocet. They asked that adults make use of their social networks, including Facebook and Twitter, to help warn friends and followers that propoxyphene has been linked to severe heart problems, overdose, and even accidental death. The FDA mandated a recall for Darvocet and Darvon in November 2010.

Spreading News of Dangerous Darvocet Side Effects

Though the November 2010 recall of Darvon and Darvocet was one of the largest in the past decade, it has also been one of the most under-reported. US Drug Watchdog believes that a large percentage of the 22 million Americans prescribed one of the two medicines may never have been alerted to the recall.
The organization warns that millions of consumers may still be keeping Darvon or Darvocet in their medicine cabinets, and that millions more may continue using the drugs without a thorough understanding of the severe side effects they can cause. Darvocet, which was the more widely-prescribed of the two, includes both propoxyphene and acetaminophen.

Gathering Evidence for Darvocet Lawsuits

While it may seem advisable for former users of Darvocet or Darvon to simply throw the unused portions of the drugs into the trash, US Drug Watchdog instructs consumers to save the original containers. The receptacles may still serve as important evidence for pending or future lawsuits against Darvocet’s manufacturer, Xanodyne Pharmaceuticals Inc.
For years, US Drug Watchdog has been championing the rights of consumers and calling for transparency in reporting the side effects of prescription drugs. They are currently focused on alerting the public to Darvocet’s potentially deadly side effects. This group is part of a larger organization, the Washington, D.C.-based association known as America’s Watchdog. Due to its tireless efforts to protect US citizens against injustice, the group was nominated in 2002 for the American Trial Attorney’s Civil Justice Foundation Community Champion Award.
Darvocet and Darvon have been widely available by prescription since their approval by the FDA in 1957. For years, both medicines have been closely monitored as a result of reports of dangerous side effects. However it wasn’t until 2010, when the FDA reviewed data showing propoxyphene’s tendency to adversely affect the heart’s electrical activity, that it issued a recall for the drugs. Following the agency’s declaration, Xanodyne as well as generic manufacturers were compelled to pull their products from the market.

Death by Darvocet Ignites Lawsuits

Some have estimated that the number of Americans killed by Darvocet and Darvon hovers somewhere around 1,000 to 2,000 since 2005. It is likely that a more precise count will be established as more and more people file Darvocet lawsuits on behalf of the drug’s former users who have since passed away.