Are Pharmacies Still Filling FDA Pulled Medications?!

[Kadratis]

Supposedly, Darvocet and Darvon was pulled from the market by the FDA earlier this month. To my surprise, my grandmother got her monthly medications yesterday in the mail only to find that they filled her regular prescription for Darvocet (used for her rheumatoid arthritis). I thought if medications were taken off of the market, they were no longer filled by pharmacies. Is this a screw up on the pharmacy's end, or does the "pull" take affect next month?

 

[Robert Maxwell]

I don't believe there is a date when it has to come off the shelves. Rather, the FDA has asked manufacturers to stop making it and I believe they have all complied. Pharmacies may dispose of their inventories but I don't think they're obligated to do so--they can still sell what stocks they have.

I have not seen anything regarding a firm deadline to stop selling Darvocet. It just won't be made anymore and the supplies will run out.

 

[PsychoPere]

Through conversations with some former co-workers, I do know that Walgreens has already quarantined all brand and generic propoxyphene (orders were sent down from corporate on the afternoon of Friday the 19th, only a few hours after the 12pm announcement - quite remarkable speed for Wags, really), and I imagine that CVS and most, if not all, of the other retail pharmacies have likewise done so by now. Since the generic equivalents were not ordered off the market by the FDA, your grandmother's mail order pharmacy may not have pulled its generic stock prior to shipping that prescription (there's also no such thing as a "regular prescription," by the way, for a Schedule IV drug).

This market withdrawal actually makes me somewhat glad that I'm not currently working in retail pharmacy, since prescriptions for tramadol are going to go up drastically with ridiculously dangerous dosage directions.

 

[propita]

No info from Hubby on this--he’s currently an in-patient pharmacist at a Children’s hospital, so doesn’t come across such drugs. Pharmacists are informed of such changes and are responsible for NOT filling such prescriptions--they usually call the doctor and get (in writing) a replacement med for that patient.

 

[Tora Ziyal]

Has your grandmother talked to her doctor about what he/she wants her to do?

FYI, some info from the FDA website : http://www.fda.gov/Drugs/DrugSafety...ormationforPatientsandProviders/ucm233800.htm