FDA Orders Limitations On Vicodin’s Key Ingredient Acetaminophen

January 14th, 2011 - 7:56 pm ICT by GD  

By Madhuri Dey
t1largpainpillstsJan 14, (THAINDIAN NEWS) Food and Drug Administration on Thursday announced that they have asked prescription drug manufacturers to lower the percentage of acetaminophen to 325 milligrams in the prescription painkillers such as the Vicodin and Percocet. The order was issued by FDA as the drug acetaminophen is known to increase the chances for liver damage. Health researchers in an attempt to curb the risk of liver damage have asked the pharmaceutical companies to limit the dosage.

Not only have the FDA asked the manufacturers to limit the dosage but have also ordered them to put a “boxed warning” on the labels of painkillers which would make buyers aware about the potential threat of consuming the medicines containing the drug acetaminophen. Since painkillers are the first choice of patients and are the ones that are sold at a maximum rate over the counters, it is less likely that the mass will opt away from it. Therefore, to ensure that the medicines does not get to hamper the health of the patients, the FDA had to issue out the order.

Sandra Kweder, one of the deputy director at the FDA’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research said that most people are not even aware that they are consuming the liver failure causing drug acetaminophen. She added that acetaminophen is one such drug that is commonly used all over the United States and since a long time, has been known to bring harmful effects on the human liver if it is taken in overdose. Researches have found that overdose of acetaminophen in the human body has resulted in the death of almost 460 individuals in a single year while thousands had to go through hospitalization and medical emergency visits.

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