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.

Darvon and Darvocet has been equally produced and exclusively distributed by selected pharmaceutical companies like Eli Lilli and Co., the original manufacturing company of Darvon and Darvocet; Xanodyne, a Kentucky based company that also sells and markets the prescribed drugs which actually acquired the drugs from aaiPharma Inc. in 2005 for the value of $209 million. Propoxyphene in one active drug that can be found in the said prescribed drugs, and later has to play an important role to the pursuant of Darvon Lawsuit. 

Let us take an example of Darvon Lawsuit filed by the Cincinnati family whose member of the family, to be more specific the daughter of Tammy and John Gilbert named “Nikki”died after taking the prescribed medicine. She was too young to meet her final journey in life. She was 22 years of age when she started taking the said drug for eight days. As requested by the FDA after having known the sudden incident in the Cincinnati family, Xanodyne themselves found out from their studies that propoxyphene is a cardiac toxin. The Darvon Lawsuit filed by this grieving family became more popular and in fact, was considered as one of the nine lawsuits filed against Xanodyne in the U.S District Court. The original manufacturer of Darvon and Darvocet- Eli Lilly and Co., defended that Nikki’s death didn’t cause her taking of the prescribed drug but because of the heart failure. But it should also remember that propoxyphene which one of the active chemical in Darvon and Darvocet is a cardiac toxin. The parents of Nikki responded that prior to the prescription of the medicine they put confidence to that drug hence it was being prescribed by the experts too. 

In their case, it was indeed worth fighting most especially that it loses life of the person, too young to be buried on the ground. This is just one of the million Darvon Lawsuits that Darvon and Darvocet manufacturing companies strongly face today. If you are unfortunate to know that you have also taken Darvon or Darvocet, look for a lawyer now and they’ll help you getting compensated. For more information, kindly hit the links provided.

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.