It was one step forward and two steps back for safe prescription drugs in 2010.
There was public outcry against Avandia, the heart attack-associated diabetes drug (and the conflicts of interest that kept it on the market) but some say Actos and Byetta, which will take up some of the slack, are no safer.
Meridia, an amphetamine-like diet pill, and Darvon, the pain pill, were withdrawn. But Nuvugil, an extreme and dangerous stimulant was pushed as a "wakefulness" drug for "excessive sleepiness" (including to college kids with their well known narcolepsy and shift study sleep disorder.) And Singulair, Merck's number one asthma and allergy drug, was said to cause ADHD symptoms in children by Fox news this month. Oops.
Meanwhile, even though antidepressants like Paxil and Cymbalta are linked to mood dysregulation and suicide, FDA approved Cymbalta for arthritis and lower back pain this month anyway.
Still, here are some drugs you may want to save for national Take Back Prescriptions day.
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