FDA warns of fatal risks from mixing opioids and sedatives

WASHINGTON (AP) — Health officials are strengthening warnings about the potentially fatal consequences of mixing prescription painkillers and sedatives like Xanax, saying the combination can lead to breathing problems, coma and death.

The Food and Drug Administration said it will add a boxed warning — the strongest type — to nearly 400 medications about the interaction, including opioid painkillers, opioid-containing cough medicines and benzodiazepines, which are used to treat anxiety, insomnia and seizure disorders.

Overdose deaths linked to non-medical use of the drug combination tripled between 2004 and 2011, according to figures from the agency.

Wen, an emergency medicine specialist, cited federal figures estimating that nearly 1 in 3 accidental opioid overdose deaths in the U.S. also involve sedatives.

The FDA has come under fire for not doing more to stem to tide of fatal overdoses tied to prescription opioids, potentially addictive medications that include OxyContin, Vicodin, Percocet and numerous generic equivalents.