U.S. moves to stop sale of some nausea drugs (Reuters)

[Up2Late]

Source: Reuters

U.S. moves to stop sale of some nausea drugs

Fri Apr 6, 2007 5:26pm ET161

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Companies must stop selling suppositories that contain trimethobenzamide to relieve nausea and vomiting because they have not been proven effective, U.S. health officials said on Friday.

The prescription-only suppositories have been sold for children and adults under names including Tigan, Tebamide, T-Gen, Trimazide and Trimethobenz but are not approved, the Food and Drug Administration said.

"Drugs containing trimethobenzamide in suppository form lack evidence of effectiveness," a notice from the Food and Drug Administration said. About 2 million of the suppositories are prescribed each year, FDA officials said.

The agency identified five companies that manufacture trimethobenzamide suppositories. The FDA said the makers were Bio Pharm Inc., Dispensing Solutions Inc., G & W Laboratories Inc., Paddock Laboratories Inc. and Perrigo Co.

(more at link) <http://today.reuters.com/news/articlenews.aspx?type=domesticNews&storyid=2007-04-06T212625Z_01_N06254497_RTRUKOC_0_US-NAUSEA-DRUGS.xml>

Read more: http://today.reuters.com/news/articlenews.aspx?type=domesticNews&storyid=2007-04-06T212625Z_01_N06254497_RTRUKOC_0_US-NAUSEA-DRUGS.xml

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I could be wrong, but these manufacturers all sound like "Heath Supplement" manufacturing companies, who's products are sold at Heath Food Stores. Does anyone else know?

[mahina]

1. I just love that evidence of effectiveness is a valid criteria for vites,

but not for war.

[gulfcoastliberal]

2. The article says "prescription only"

Those are generic drug cos.

[Up2Late]

7. Oh, O.K., Thanks.

I guess that's why I've never heard of these Companies.

[SharonAnn]

3. That's surprising to hear. I just used some recently and they worked great.

Made me drowsy, but I needed that.

[Warpy]

4. I've never seen Tigan work in anyone

and I always shuddered when a physician prescribed it to one of my patients. I'd have to let the poor patient heave for another hour before I could call him up and get something that would actually work.

I've always had a pitched battle with any doc who tried to prescribe it for me, and I've always won.

Some drugs out there are bad drugs because they hurt people. Others are bad drugs because they introduce chemicals to the body that don't do what they've been advertised to do. They don't do measurable harm, they just don't work. Tigan is the latter.

I'm delighted to see this one go. It's a very old drug, been around for decades and I'm surprised so few people have noticed its ineffectiveness.

[azurnoir]

5. Very true

I worked in Bone Marrow Transplant for a few years, the most effective anti-emetic- take a guess, I could always tell which patients smoked (marijuana) because they did not look like walking skeletons. I did out right ask a few and they all said yes.

[Up2Late]

9. Hey! Maybe this is the first covert step to allow or ignore Medical Marijuana?

NPR was talking about Changing attitudes about Marijuana today, as part of their "The Forgotten War (on Drugs)" series. <http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=9413890>

I really think Medical Marijuana will eventually be legal everywhere soon. Maybe not in the next 2 years, but soon after that.

[gravity]

13. I had a bone marrow transplant, but my doctor advised against smoking herb

It was because of risk of infection from being immuned supressed, something about fungal infection in the lungs. I did anyways though and not for health reasons, but I didn't think it affected my nausea. I was also perscribed Marinol, synthetic THC, as an appetite stimulant, but I didn't really notice them working either. It didn't really compare to the steroids they gave me to suppress my immune system, which made me eat like a horse.

For nausea, Zofran worked best for me, but it was expensive as hell and my insurance only covered small amounts of it.

[Warpy]

15. One oncology floor I worked on had an open stairwell

at one end, a fire escape. We'd disable the door alarm when a patient asked us to, and we knew damned well why they'd go out there. When they'd come back, they'd reek. It was a good opportunity to get them to do their oral care.

You're right, those were the patients that didn't look like they'd just been freed from a Nazi concentration camp.

I hate the drug war. I don't hate much in this world, but I hate that.

[Shakespeare]

11. I know I'm going to spell this wrong, but the ONLY anti-nausea drug I've seen that works....

...on me or anyone I know is (I'll spell phonetically) finnergan.

It also puts me in a coma, but I swear it's the only thing that kept me alive during a horrific bout of stomach flu about 15 years ago.

[Big Pappa]

12. Phenergran

it is an anti histamine hypnotic that works wonders for nausea. Side effects can be devastating though, esp if given iv. Zofran ODT a sub lingual to me is the best there is for nausea. Expensive though.

[Warpy]

14. It's Phenergan, and it doesn't work all that well, although

it's a lot better than Tigan.

In my own experience, the only time Tigan has seemed to work was in people with a GI virus, and then it's only because the virus had run its course and they would have stopped vomiting, anyway.

We are getting more and more new antinausea drugs all the time, drugs that do work reliably on patients with post op vomiting, vomiting from chemotherapy, and other conditions that Tigan could never touch.

[Nevernever]

16. The NATURAL Alternative:

[sakkatta]

6. they must not be addictive

if the fda wants to ban them

[AndyTiedye]

8. How Is Anybody Going to Make It Through Bush**'s Speeches Without Anti-Barf Drugs?

:puke:

[valerief]

10. Ha! Good one! Gotta turn the sound off, I guess. nt

[Zhade]

17. Meanwhile, the beneficial herb marijuana is, insanely, still illegal.

NT!