A recent consultation looking at evidence for the safety and effectiveness of pain reliever Darvocet (generic name: co-proxamol) found that the benefits of the medicine did not outweigh the risks and that it should be gradually withdrawn from clinical use. Co-proxamol is associated with 300 to 400 intentional and accidental fatal overdoses each year.
Co-proxamol is prescribed to hundreds of thousands of people every year and has been the subject of a staggered withdrawal because of evidence that it can cause death if patients exceed the maximum recommended dosage by as few as two tablets. One study found that the medication, whose effects are increased by alcohol, was responsible for 18 percent of all drug-related deaths and 5 percent of all suicides. An ingredient in Darvocet, propoxyphene, may also be habit-forming.
As of late 1997, it was the second-most-prescribed drug, after the antibiotic amoxycilin. Several pharmaceutical companies currently market it as co-proxamol and it is also sold under the brand names Darvon, Distalgesic, Cosalgesic, and Dolgesic.
