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OxyContin Abuse-Deterrent Formulation Has Addicts Switching To Heroin

 
• By Brenda Sandburg

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. Louis, and his colleagues describe the results of a survey of 2,566 patients with opioid dependence. They also conducted online or telephone interviews of 103 of these patients to obtain qualitative information. They report that the selection of OxyContin as a primary drug of abuse decreased from 35.6% of respondents before the release of the abuse-deterrent formulation to just 12.8% 21 months later

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US FDA Advisory Committee Misperceptions Abound … At HHS

 
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US FDA Layoffs Hit Conflict-Of-Interest Screening For ODAC Meeting

 
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Screening for conflicts and finding the right expertise for a two-day Oncologic Drugs Advisory Committee meeting on four products has been complicated by the Trump Administration’s initial communications freeze and subsequent layoffs in CDER.