After regulatory review and advisory committee voting on Purdue Pharma L.P.’s postmarketing studies, many questions remain about the abuse-deterrent formulation of OxyContin (oxycodone). Most notably, does the reformulation have an impact on addiction and public health? How will the US Food and Drug Administration communicate the results of the studies to physicians and the public? And does it even matter that abuse-deterrent formulations of opioids are on the market?
The FDA encouraged opioid makers to reformulate their products to include abuse-deterrent properties in hopes they might help mitigate opioid...