Pain-killer blamed for many U.S. deaths

Press, 27 November 1978, Page 27

Pain-killer blamed for many U.S. deaths

NZPA Washington The American Health Research Group has asked the. Federal Government either to ban or limit sales of the pain-killing drug Darvon, on the ground that its “flagrant abuse” is killing more than 1000 Americans a year and in some areas causing more deaths than heroin and morphine. Dr Sidney M. Wolfe, director of the group, which is the medical arm of Ralph Nader’s public citizen consumer interest lobby, said that Darvon, known chemically as propoxyphene, “leads all other prescription drugs in the United States in drugrelated deaths.” He said Darvon was under suspicion as having been one of the drugs that contributed to the death recently of Allan Newman, the son of the actor, Paul Newman. “The use of this drug in this country is tantamount to legalised dope,” Dr Wolfe said. He noted that in 14 major metropolitan areas, including New York, Boston and Philadelphia, “pro-

poxyphene was associated with more deaths than heroin or morphine in the first half of 1977.” In a letter to Mr Joseph Califano, jun., the. Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare, Dr Wolfe asked that he “ban immediately the marketing of propoxyphene as an imminent hazard” under provisions of the Federal drug laws. Mr Ross Durbin, a spokesman for the manufacturers, Eli Lily and Company, in Indianapolis, said: “We are not aware of any significant new evidence that suggests that the legal status of Darvon should be changed. “When taken as directed by a physician, Darvon is a safe and effective analgesic and the preponderance of careful scientific studies over the years, including some done recently, supports this.” he said. Since the introduction of Darvon 21 years and hundreds of millions of doses ago it had been found to be relatively safe and free of side effects. Mr Durbin said that his company had notified doctors two years ago that

Darvon, if taken with alcohol and sleeping pills, “has an additive effect” and that they should warn their patients not to take the wrong dose. The police in Los Angeles said this might have been the cause of death of Allan Newman, who died in a hotel room.

The drug, darvon, is available in New Zealand as a widely prescribed pain killer, doloxene. It is also sold in combination with paracetamol. Overdose symptoms are similar to morphine poisoning except that overdoses of doloxene cause severe convulsions. The drug is generally prescribed, because it is the only non-narcotic alternative to habit-form-ing drugs, for use as an analgesic. A Health Department official in Wellington, (Dr J. Phillips) said that the drug had been used here for many years and it has been considered by the poisons committee on several occasions. When it was used properly there was no evidence of any problem in New Zealand. Problems arose only through overdoses.