Fda Cracks Down On Migraine Drug

Bruce Fisher was overjoyed finally to find a drug that almost instantaneously snuffed out his severe migraines.

But the Illinois man became hooked on the seemingly innocuous nasal spray - and at age 24, in the midst of addiction therapy, he shot himself to death.

Now, after hundreds of reports of patient dependence, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has recommended that the popular migraine drug Stadol be classified as a controlled substance in order to curb how doctors prescribe it.

The Drug Enforcement Administration says the new restrictions - on both the shot version hospitals provide and the popular nasal spray Stadol NS - will be in force within months.

But that’s too late for Chicago neurologist Dr. Morris Fisher. He argues in this month’s journal Neurology that neither the FDA nor Stadol’s manufacturer adequately warned doctors or patients about what they knew was a mounting problem.