Tylenol doses cut to prevent overdoses
This came out on a AP wire, but little good did it do me as I have stopped taking Tylenol almost 2 years ago. Also, will never touch Motrin again and thankful for it. Those of you who do however, take Tylenol, read this and see if you want to continue Russian Roulette.
Johnson & Johnson is cutting the max daily dose of Extra Strength Tylenol in order to lower the risk of accidental overdose from it's active ingredient acetaminophen, which is one of the top causes of liver failure. But not just Tylenol, other common pain meds people take for chronic joint and particularly knee pain are Percocet, Vicodin, and even some non pain meds like NyQuil and some Sudafed products.
The Associated Press article, says in part:
Starting sometime this fall, labels on Extra Strength Tylenol packages will now list the maximum daily dose as six pills, or a total of 3,000 milligrams, down from eight pills a day, or 4,000 milligrams.
Beginning next year, McNeil will also reduce the maximum daily dose for its Regular Strength Tylenol and other adult pain relievers containing acetaminophen, the most widely used pain killer in the country.
But people taking multiple medicines at once don't always realize how much acetaminophen they are ingesting, partly because prescription drug labels often list it under the abbreviation "APAP."
Two years ago, a panel of advisers to the Food and Drug Administration called for sweeping restrictions to prevent accidental fatal overdoses of acetaminophen.
Then in January, the FDA said it would cap the amount of acetaminophen in Vicodin, Percocet and other prescription pain killers at 325 milligrams per capsule — just under half the 700 milligram maximum of some products on the market then. The agency also said it was working with pharmacies and other medical groups to develop standard labeling for acetaminophen.
Excessive use of acetaminophen can cause liver damage. In the U.S., it's blamed for about 200 fatal overdoses and sends 56,000 people to the emergency room each year.
Extra Strength Tylenol is manufactured at a J&J factory in Las Piedras, Puerto Rico, where production has been decreased for months because the FDA, concerned about manufacturing and quality problems, is requiring additional reviews and approvals before medicines can be shipped. J&J said shipments of Extra Strength Tylenol should ramp up in the latter part of this year and throughout next year.
Las Piedras is one of three factories implicated in most of the 25 Johnson & Johnson recalls since September 2009, involving tens of millions of bottles of Tylenol and other nonprescription drugs made by McNeil. Several prescription drugs, hip implants and contact lenses made by other J&J subsidiaries also have been recalled.
The recalls, for quality problems ranging from metal shavings and improper levels of active ingredients in some medicines to packaging with a nauseating odor, resulted in a consent decree between McNeil and the FDA this spring.
As a result, Las Piedras and a second factory, in Lancaster, Pa., are under additional scrutiny. The third factory, in Fort Washington, Pa., made children's medicines such as liquid Tylenol. It has been closed since April 2010 and is being gutted and completely rebuilt.
