Safety Announcement
[2-20-2013] The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is updating the public about new actions being taken to address a known safety concern with codeine use in certain children after tonsillectomy and/or adenoidectomy (surgery to remove the tonsils and/or adenoids). Deaths have occurred post-operatively in children with obstructive sleep apnea who received codeine for pain relief following a tonsillectomy and/or adenoidectomy. Codeine is converted to morphine by the liver. These children had evidence of being ultra-rapid metabolizers of codeine, which is an inherited (genetic) ability that causes the liver to convert codeine into life-threatening or fatal amounts of morphine in the body. Read the full announcement.