Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, January 26, 1994 TAG: 9401260164
SECTION: NATL/INTL PAGE: A-4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Short
But the government, which gave its approval to the drug last year, was asked Tuesday to reverse the decision. In a petition, a private group said the notion of putting an anesthetic into candy is "needlessly risking the lives of American children."
The drug, to be marketed by Abbott Laboratories, is a candy containing fentanyl, a narcotic that has been used in patch form for three years to treat chronic pain in patients with advanced cancer. Before that, it was injected for pain.
"The lollipops smell like candy, look like candy; they are candy," Dr. Sidney Wolfe, director of Public Citizen's Health Research Group, told a news conference. "It is a setup for children being killed," he said.
The lollipops, in three dosage strengths, are to be marketed by Abbott Laboratories under the trade name Fentanyl Oralet. The drug is both a sedative and pain reliever.
The Food and Drug Administration approved the lollipops in October but ordered tough labeling restrictions and a distribution plan to prevent misuse.
Wolfe asked FDA Commissioner David Kessler "immediately to reverse this dangerous and ill-conceived decision . . . before any of these narcotic lollipops are used by children and before the first child is killed by this potentially deadly drug-candy."
by CNB