Dextromoramide
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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Dextromoramide (Palfium, Palphium, Jetrium, Dimorlin) It is subject to drug prohibition regimes, both internationally through UN treaties, and by the criminal law of individual states. It is still rarely used in Australia and some European countries, but prescription is avoided due to its abuse potential and so use of dextromoramide is now mainly limited to terminal care.
History
Dextromoramide was discovered and patented in 1956 by Dr Paul Janssen at Janssen Pharmaceutica, who also discovered fentanyl, another important synthetic opioid, widely used to treat pain and in combination with other drugs as an anaesthetic. Dextromoramide was much favoured by drug abusers in Australia in the 1970s and the United Kingdom. It has the main proprietary name of Palfium amongst others, though as of mid 2004 the drug was discontinued in the UK due to limited supplies of precursor chemicals. Although this is true, it is believed there was an approximate one year shortage of Dextromoramide and the real reason that Palfium was not put back into production for the uk market is because of how addictive and potent it is as an oral painkiller compared to morphine. The only european countries that now use the brand palfium is in Netherlands, Ireland and Luxembourg
