The once up and coming Drug Distributor Xanodyne is being pushed to the brink of economic disaster due to the upsurge of Darvon Darvocet Lawsuit that have been filed since the US Food and Drug Administration’s ban of Darvon and Darvocet last November 2010.

Xanodyne had claimed that the recall came to no surprise. However, two months before the recall over 60% of the drug distributor’s 200 employees were laid off. This could be seen as a preemptive measure by Xanodyne seeing how about one-third (or $26 million dollars) of its $74 million dollar 2007 revenue came from the sales of Darvon and Darvocet. Also it was the independent study done by Xanodyne, which showed results of Darvon causing heart abnormalities in patients with no known heart problems, that ultimately caused the FDA to ban the drug.

The rights to Darvon and Darvocet has changed hands several times before Xanodyne acquired them in 2005 for $209 million dollars from  AAIPharma Inc. of Wilmington, N.C. after AAI declared bankruptcy. AAI itself had bought Darvon and Darvocet from the original patent holder, Eli Lilly and Company, in 2002 for just over $210 million.

The good news for Xanodyne is that since they just sell and market drugs, such as Darvon and Darvocet, and do not manufacture any drugs they are able to keep costs, such as expensive equipment and highly skilled workers, as low as possible according to Brad Mitchell, a Cincinnati-based consultant to pharmaceutical companies.

Mitchell states that: “When a company is faced with a significant issue like this, they’ve really got to evaluate their strategy. There are certainly instances where companies have had to fold because the cost of liability and the cost of litigation and settling claims were in excess of their asset base.”

A Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation is set to meet in San Diego later this month where the arguments aboutwhether all federal propoxyphene cases should be consolidated under a single judge for pretrial matters. The panel has been called because many of the cases filed again Xanodyne state that the drug distributor knew about the severe heart side effects that their product can cause.

Will the panel’s decision cause Xanodyne to go out of business? For more information on the Multidistrict Litigation and for any questions you may have on your potential Darvon Lawsuit, you may visit the Darvon/Darvocet main site.

According to a Swedish Doctor, the FDA has known about the side effects of Darvon/Darvocet long before (over 10 years) the recall of the drug in November 2010. This Swedish Doctor also claims that the Darvon Lawsuits have the potential to land its plaintiffs large amounts of money.

The recent recall by the FDA is just the latest part of a story that dates back all the way to the 1970’s. Back in the 1970’s the group Public Citizen, attempted to have Darvon/Darvocet removed from the US Market. They claimed that the drug has dangerous side effects that can damage the Heart. This petition of the Public Citizen failed, however, Ulf Jonasson, a Doctor of Public Health in Sweden, visited the U.S. in 2003 and 2004, meeting with doctors at Public Citizen, which issued a second petition for propoxyphene’s ban in 2006.  Jonasson and his wife have been researching the side effects of Darvon and Darvocet since 1993, when asked about working with Public Citizen he replied “We have researched Darvon side effects since 1993, and Public Citizen has worked hard to ban the drug before that.” “There could have been hundreds of thousands of deaths due to Darvon and Darvocet over the past 50 years.”

Jonasson also published several reports in the European market about the dangers of the drug, these reports led to several measures being changed. First it helped create new prescription regulations in Sweden, effecting the amount of drug being sent out in the country lowering the deaths caused by it per year by at least 60%. The reports also led to many European countries, including the United Kingdom (UK) and the European Union (EU) to outright ban the drug in 2005.

Dr. Jonasson claims that he sent the same information to the FDA in 1999 as the Europeans received. The FDA however, did not take action upon receiving the reports of the dangers of Darvon and Darvocet. The only explanation that Dr. Jonasson could give was that “We believe the FDA is influenced very much by the drug companies, and we know that Eli Lilly, the Darvon manufacturer (the original manufacturer; currently manufactured by Xanodyne Pharmaceuticals, Inc.), has known about Darvon side effects for many years.”

If you, like many, have been injured by Darvon/Darvocet and would like to know more about filing a lawsuit, please feel free to visit the Darvon/Darvocet main site for more information.

Darvon lawsuits have been piling up ever since studies regarding propoxyphene use have found out that it can result to heart arrhythmia, heart attack, cardiac arrest, sudden death, or suicide. Propoxyphene is an opioid that serves as an active ingredient of Darvon and  was found out to be a potential enemy of the heart.

From the numerous studies, a lot of doctors have now voiced out their opinions regarding this particular painkiller. According to Doctor Ulf Jonasson, ““Propoxyphene is the worst drug in history. No single drug has ever caused so many deaths.” It should also be noted that Dr. Jonasson is the reason behind the banning of Darvon in United Kingdom that happened around 2005 and in the European Union in 2009. Another doctor, Dr. Eduardo Frafield, repeated this and added, ““I’m surprised it stayed on the market so long. It’s addictive, in my experience not very effective, and toxic.”

Before these doctors had harsh criticisms regarding Darvon, an advocacy group (Public Citizen) in the United States has already been calling for the banning of the product due to its side effects. However, their petitions were denied twice. This has been one of the reasons why the recalling of Darvon has been seen as very late. Now, there are millions of people who are suffering from the product’s side effects. If only they have considered Public Citizen’s petition, a huge litigation would have been put off.

The effects of Darvon are really very alarming. In fact, there are many doctors expressing concern about it. If you have been affected by Darvon’s side effects, express your concern by consulting a lawyer.