OxyContin Abuse-Deterrent Formulation Has Addicts Switching To Heroin

New England Journal of Medicine report notes an increase in heroin use among patients with opioid dependence following the introduction of reformulated OxyContin; Purdue post-marketing study also finds an increase in heroin-related calls to poison control centers.

Purdue Pharma LP’s abuse deterrent formulation of OxyContin (oxycodone HCl controlled-release) has helped reduce abuse of the opioid since its introduction in August 2010 but led addicts to turn to other drugs, particularly heroin, according to a study reported in the New England Journal of Medicine.

In a letter to the editor in the July 12 issue of NEJM, Theodore Cicero, of Washington University in St....

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