EFN

The Food and Drug Administration has admitted that it was wrong last month when it ordered nine companies to stop producing a extremely concentrated morphine sulfate elixir.

The decision comes after many physicians handling terminally ill patients had said by removing the morphine from the market, it would “cause extreme suffering for many patients who are nearing the end of life.”

The FDA’s decision follows a March 31 warning to nine companies to stop making 14 unapproved prescription narcotic painkillers.

Six of those companies make or distribute the liquid morphine that is used for many dying patients.

The morphine elixir is commonly utilized by terminal patients in hospital and home hospice care settings and is manufactured by Lehigh Valley Technologies Inc., Mallinckrodt Inc. Pharmaceuticals Group, Boehringer Ingelheim Roxane Inc. and Cody Laboratories, Inc.

Almost two million Americans are positlby being treated for pain with the painkilling liquid, called hydromorphone and sold under the name Dilaudid and other brands. Many people who rely on the unapproved pain killers complain that finding approved versions of drugs that work as well is difficult, if not impossible.