The Nation - News from May 9, 1986

The Food and Drug Administration approved an antidote designed to prevent overdose deaths among the 4 million people still taking an old heart medication called Digoxin, a hard-to-regulate drug that accounts for half of all accidental poisonings among the elderly. The antidote--Digibind--can be administered intravenously in hospital emergency rooms to heart patients who take an overdose of Digoxin or a related drug, digitoxin. Digibind can also treat severe toxic reactions from non-fatal overdoses among children, the FDA said.