When we recently went to reorder colchicines for IV use we found out that the FDA has taken it off the market. I was very disappointed and frustrated with this action as I have been using it over 20 years successfully in alleviating sciatica and low back pain with no adverse effects.
I suspect that this action by the FDA was the result of the recent publicized death of three patients attributed to the use of IV colchicines in an alternative medical clinic in Portland, Oregon. This clinic had obtained their colchicine from a compounding pharmacy in Texas that inadvertently made the colchicine 10 times more concentrated. Like most doctors we obtain our colchicine from a reputable pharmaceutical manufacture.
Most of us have heard of the tainted heparin from China causing numerous deaths yet the FDA is not pulling heparin off the market. This action taken by the FDA will eliminate one of the last truly effective treatments for sciatica and low back pain. A more rational approach would have be to eliminate the compounding of IV colchicine.
Terry Pfau DO, HMD