Health News
- Rogers, Other Drug-caucus Chair File Bill To Reverse Fda's Approval Of New Painkiller; Competing Company Has Alternative
Illustration from PainAndDepression.comU.S. Reps. Hal Rogers of Somerset and Stephen Lynch of Massachusetts have introduced a bill to withdraw federal approval of a new formulation of hydrocodone that is highly addictive and produced in crushable pills,...
- Pike County Settles Its Part Of Oxycontin Lawsuit Against Purdue Pharma For $4 Million; State Remains A Plaintiff
Officials of Pike County, Kentucky, announced this week that Purdue Pharma, the maker of OxyContin, will pay $4 million to settle the county's part of a lawsuit the county and state filed in 2007 seeking damages for the addiction OxyContin caused...
- Pike Court Will Keep Lawsuit County And Attorney General Filed Against Purdue Pharma Over Damage Done By Its Oxycontin
A state court will hear the Kentucky attorney general's 2007 lawsuit against OxyContin manufacturer Purdue Pharma, against the wishes of the company. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit affirmed a lower court's order returning the...
- Generic Oxycontin And Opana, Headed For Market Soon, Could Make Fight Against Pain-pill Abuse Tougher, Mcconnell Says
With generic versions of the two most commonly-abused painkillers, Opana and OxyContin, coming on the market next year, police, hospitals and health clinics in Kentucky have voiced concern that "these generic crushable drugs lack the tamper-resistant...
- New Form Of Oxy Is Harder To Inhale And Inject, So Drug Users Are Turning To Heroin, Opana For High
A new formulation of OxyContin makes it harder to inhale or inject. Drug Enforcement Administration photo.A change in the formulation of the powerful drug OxyContin has addicts turning to another high to fuel their habit: heroin. Researchers at the Washington...
Health News
FDA requires OxyContin pills to be non-crushable to deter abuse
The Food and Drug Administration announced Tuesday that it would block generic, crushable versions of OxyContin from coming to the market and approve the reformulated, non-crushable OxyContin, which deters abuse of the powerful painkiller.
U.S. Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell applauded the move. ?Given the public health epidemic of prescription drug abuse and the ravaging effects it has on families all across Kentucky, this announcement is great news and will prevent an influx of crushable, generic OxyContin from coming to market,? McConnell said in a release.
OxyContin is a potent drug designed to treat severe pain. Without abuse-deterrent formulas, addicts can crush the pills to get an immediate heroin-like high. The reformulated product has properties that make the tablet harder to crush, break, or dissolve and that prevent it from being injected in order to achieve a quick high, an FDA press release said.
Drug overdoses are now the leading cause of death in Kentucky, and law enforcement, lawmakers and health providers have expressed their concerns that crushable, generic versions would worsen the problem.
The FDA decision came on the same day manufacturer Purdue Pharma?s patent on the original drug was set to expire, and McConnell has been actively meeting with federal officials on behalf of those concerned. Rep. Hal Rogers, R-5th, also lobbied for it. (Read more)
In an editorial, the Lexington Herald-Leader points out that the move means a continued OxyContin monopoly and more profits for Purdue Pharma, which "paid $600 million in fines in 2007, and three of the company's executives paid a total of $34.5 million, after they pleaded guilty to misleading doctors and the public about OxyContin's addictiveness. . . . We wonder why Rogers and McConnell aren't calling for Purdue to voluntarily share its new formulation."
U.S. Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell applauded the move. ?Given the public health epidemic of prescription drug abuse and the ravaging effects it has on families all across Kentucky, this announcement is great news and will prevent an influx of crushable, generic OxyContin from coming to market,? McConnell said in a release.
OxyContin is a potent drug designed to treat severe pain. Without abuse-deterrent formulas, addicts can crush the pills to get an immediate heroin-like high. The reformulated product has properties that make the tablet harder to crush, break, or dissolve and that prevent it from being injected in order to achieve a quick high, an FDA press release said.
Drug overdoses are now the leading cause of death in Kentucky, and law enforcement, lawmakers and health providers have expressed their concerns that crushable, generic versions would worsen the problem.
The FDA decision came on the same day manufacturer Purdue Pharma?s patent on the original drug was set to expire, and McConnell has been actively meeting with federal officials on behalf of those concerned. Rep. Hal Rogers, R-5th, also lobbied for it. (Read more)
In an editorial, the Lexington Herald-Leader points out that the move means a continued OxyContin monopoly and more profits for Purdue Pharma, which "paid $600 million in fines in 2007, and three of the company's executives paid a total of $34.5 million, after they pleaded guilty to misleading doctors and the public about OxyContin's addictiveness. . . . We wonder why Rogers and McConnell aren't calling for Purdue to voluntarily share its new formulation."
- Rogers, Other Drug-caucus Chair File Bill To Reverse Fda's Approval Of New Painkiller; Competing Company Has Alternative
Illustration from PainAndDepression.comU.S. Reps. Hal Rogers of Somerset and Stephen Lynch of Massachusetts have introduced a bill to withdraw federal approval of a new formulation of hydrocodone that is highly addictive and produced in crushable pills,...
- Pike County Settles Its Part Of Oxycontin Lawsuit Against Purdue Pharma For $4 Million; State Remains A Plaintiff
Officials of Pike County, Kentucky, announced this week that Purdue Pharma, the maker of OxyContin, will pay $4 million to settle the county's part of a lawsuit the county and state filed in 2007 seeking damages for the addiction OxyContin caused...
- Pike Court Will Keep Lawsuit County And Attorney General Filed Against Purdue Pharma Over Damage Done By Its Oxycontin
A state court will hear the Kentucky attorney general's 2007 lawsuit against OxyContin manufacturer Purdue Pharma, against the wishes of the company. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit affirmed a lower court's order returning the...
- Generic Oxycontin And Opana, Headed For Market Soon, Could Make Fight Against Pain-pill Abuse Tougher, Mcconnell Says
With generic versions of the two most commonly-abused painkillers, Opana and OxyContin, coming on the market next year, police, hospitals and health clinics in Kentucky have voiced concern that "these generic crushable drugs lack the tamper-resistant...
- New Form Of Oxy Is Harder To Inhale And Inject, So Drug Users Are Turning To Heroin, Opana For High
A new formulation of OxyContin makes it harder to inhale or inject. Drug Enforcement Administration photo.A change in the formulation of the powerful drug OxyContin has addicts turning to another high to fuel their habit: heroin. Researchers at the Washington...