Family of dead Alta. man seeks class-action lawsuit against drug-makers

From the Calgary Herald:
The last time Ellen Robb spoke with her brother, he was doing chores and laundry at home, optimistic that with his chronic back pain under control, he would soon be back at work as an electrician.

Four days later, after many unanswered phone calls, Robb found Doug Hoy dead on his apartment floor, barefoot as if he were on his way to get his laundry basket across the hall.

Months later, a toxicology report revealed Hoy’s blood had three times the safe amount of fentanyl, Robb said.

Fentanyl is an opiate 80 to 100 times as strong as morphine, and approved for use as a pain medication in Canada and the United States.

Hoy had been prescribed the fentanyl patch to treat his severe chronic back pain after another powerful opiate, OxyContin, failed to bring relief.

Now, Robb and her family have taken steps to launch a class-action lawsuit against five pharmaceutical companies, alleging the companies that design, test and distribute fentanyl patches were negligent in warning people about the risks of breathing problems or death, as well as severe weakness, drowsiness and confusion. ...more

Addicts turning to pain patches

From the National Post:
Despite triggering a growing list of overdose deaths, powerful pain-control patches have become a rare but highly sought-after narcotic on some Canadian streets, a new study indicates.

Resourceful addicts have even devised ingenious ways to defeat safety features added recently to the Fentanyl patches, researchers discovered.

"This is bad news in many ways and ... I don't think anybody has a clear idea what to do about it," said Dr. Benedikt Fischer of the B.C. Centre for Addictions Research, one of the authors of the study. "This is a killer drug out there, in many ways."

Known by the brand-name Duragesic, the patches are prescribed primarily for treating chronic pain of cancer patients and others. More than 600,000 prescriptions were sold in Canada last year, according to IMS Health. ...more

Improper use of fentanyl pain patches linked to more deaths: FDA

From CBC News:
U.S. health officials say improper use of patches that emit the painkiller fentanyl is still killing people.

Today's warning from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration is the second concerning the powerful narcotic in two years.

The FDA blames some of the deaths on the patches being improperly prescribed to certain patients. Fentanyl should be used to control chronic pain in people already used to narcotics, such as some cancer patients. Yet the FDA has found cases where doctors prescribed it for headaches or post-surgical pain. ...more