Editing Digoxin (section)

== Society and culture ==
[[Charles Cullen]] admitted in 2003 to killing as many as 40 hospital patients with overdoses of heart medication—usually digoxin—at hospitals in New Jersey and Pennsylvania over his 19-year career as a nurse. On March 10, 2006, he was sentenced to 18 consecutive life sentences and is not eligible for [[parole]].<ref>{{cite news | work=[[USA Today]] | title = Victims' families set to confront killer | url = http://usatoday.com/news/nation/2006-01-01-patient-deaths_x.htm | date = 2006-01-01 | url-status = live | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20060104040313/http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2006-01-01-patient-deaths_x.htm | archive-date = 2006-01-04 }}</ref>

On April 25, 2008, the U.S. [[Food and Drug Administration]] (FDA) issued a press release<ref>{{ cite web | url = https://www.fda.gov/oc/po/firmrecalls/actavis04_08.html | title = Recalls, Market Withdrawals & Safety Alerts | publisher = Federal Drugs Administration | date = 2008-10-15 | access-date = 2011-11-08 | url-status = dead | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080502160007/https://www.fda.gov/oc/po/firmrecalls/actavis04_08.html | archive-date = 2008-05-02 }}</ref> alerting the public to a [[Class I recall]] of Digitek, a brand of digoxin produced by [[Mylan]].<ref>{{ cite news | url = http://www.usrecallnews.com/2008/04/urgent-digitek-digoxin-recall.html | title = Urgent Digitek Digoxin Recall | work = U.S. Recall News | date = 2008-04-28 | access-date = 2009-07-25 | url-status = live | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080504060554/http://www.usrecallnews.com/2008/04/urgent-digitek-digoxin-recall.html | archive-date = 2008-05-04 }}</ref> Some tablets had been released at double thickness and therefore double strength, causing some patients to experience digoxin toxicity. A [[class-action lawsuit]] against the Icelandic [[generic drug]] maker [[Actavis]] was announced two weeks later.<ref>{{ cite news | url = https://blogs.wsj.com/health/2008/05/09/patients-sue-icelandic-drugmaker-over-recalled-heart-drug/ | title = Patients Sue Icelandic Drugmaker Over Recalled Heart Drug | work =[[The Wall Street Journal]] | date = 2008-05-09 | access-date = 2009-07-25 | url-status = live | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20090413213712/http://blogs.wsj.com/health/2008/05/09/patients-sue-icelandic-drugmaker-over-recalled-heart-drug/ | archive-date = 2009-04-13 }}</ref>

On March 31, 2009, the FDA announced another generic digoxin pill recall by posting this company press release on the agency's web site: "Caraco Pharmaceutical Laboratories, Ltd. Announces a Nationwide Voluntary Recall of All Lots of Digoxin Tablets Due to Size Variability". A March 31 press release from [[Caraco]], a generic pharmaceutical company, stated:

{{blockquote|[All] tablets of Caraco brand Digoxin, USP, 0.125&nbsp;mg, and Digoxin, USP, 0.25&nbsp;mg, distributed prior to March 31, 2009, which are not expired and are within the expiration date of September, 2011, are being voluntarily recalled to the consumer level. The tablets are being recalled because they may differ in size and therefore could have more or less of the active ingredient, digoxin.{{citation needed|date=June 2017}}}}

A 2008 study suggested digoxin has beneficial effects not only for the heart, but also in reducing the risk of certain kinds of cancer.<ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Zhang H, Qian DZ, Tan YS, Lee K, Gao P, Ren YR, Rey S, Hammers H, Chang D, Pili R, Dang CV, Liu JO, Semenza GL | display-authors = 6 | title = Digoxin and other cardiac glycosides inhibit HIF-1alpha synthesis and block tumor growth | journal = Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America | volume = 105 | issue = 50 | pages = 19579–86 | date = December 2008 | pmid = 19020076 | pmc = 2604945 | doi = 10.1073/pnas.0809763105 | type = re: [[glycoside]]s | doi-access = free | bibcode = 2008PNAS..10519579Z }}</ref> However, comments on this study suggested that digoxin is not effective at reducing cancer risk at therapeutic concentrations of the drug,<ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Lopez-Lazaro M | title = Digoxin, HIF-1, and cancer | journal = Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America | volume = 106 | issue = 9 | pages = E26; author reply E27 | date = March 2009 | pmid = 19240208 | pmc = 2651277 | doi = 10.1073/pnas.0813047106 | doi-access = free | bibcode = 2009PNAS..106E..26L }}</ref> so the results need further investigation.<ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Dal Canto MC | title = AIDS and the nervous system: current status and future perspectives | journal = Human Pathology | volume = 20 | issue = 5 | pages = 410–8 | date = May 1989 | pmid = 2651280 | doi = 10.1016/0046-8177(89)90004-x }}</ref>

=== Brand names ===
Digoxin preparations are marketed under the [[brand name]]s Cardigox; Cardiogoxin; Cardioxin; Cardoxin; Coragoxine; Digacin; Digicor; Digitek; Digomal; Digon; Digosin; Digoxine Navtivelle; Digoxina-Sandoz; Digoxin-Sandoz; Digoxin-Zori; Dilanacin; Eudigox; Fargoxin; Grexin; Lanacordin; Lanacrist; Lanicor; Lanikor; Lanorale; Lanoxicaps; Lanoxin; Lanoxin PG; Lenoxicaps; Lenoxin; Lifusin; Mapluxin; Natigoxin; Novodigal; Purgoxin; Sigmaxin; Sigmaxin-PG; Toloxin.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2021-09-15 |title=Digoxin: a medicine to treat heart problems |url=https://www.nhs.uk/medicines/digoxin/ |access-date=2024-01-24 |website=nhs.uk |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Digoxin Tablets: Uses & Side Effects |url=https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/drugs/19363-digoxin-tablets |access-date=2024-01-24 |website=Cleveland Clinic |language=en}}</ref>