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New Tamper proof OxyContin shows promise to FDA

In Washington, the federal health officials for the FDA say a newer version of the often prescribed painkiller, OxyContin, is supposed to be harder to get addicted to and offers a few improvements over its original counterpart.

 The Stamford, Connecticut Company who manufactures OxyContin, Purdue Pharma LP, has described the medication's new plastic-like coating as a deterrent because of its new packaging which was created to make it more difficult to crush in order to snort or to inject.

The Food and Drug Administrations research scientists agree that the new version of the popular painkiller "may provide an advantage over the currently available OxyContin", but the medications resistance to tampering is "limited", and like any new claims for medications, Perdue Pharma should expand their testing in order to assure the consistency of the tampering resistance of the medication. The panel will be asked by the FDA whether to approve the new version based on new information from Perdue Pharma.

In August, King Pharmaceutical's Embeda received the first approval from the FDA for it's one of a kind tamper proof painkiller. With nearly 2 billion dollars in sales, OxyContin, was the nation's top-selling prescription painkiller in 2008. It was originally touted, when it was introduced in 1996, as a groundbreaking treatment for extreme chronic pain. It was developed as a time-release version of the medication Oxycodone and its primary function was to provide constant relief for seriously ill patients who required treatment for more than 12 hours.

But it didn't take long for drug abusers to utilize OxyContin and similar drugs when they discovered a heroin-like high when the pills are crushed and then snorted or injected. In a recent survey it was revealed that more than 5 million people in the United States had admitted to using the medications inappropriately.

The FDA has made a futile effort through public service advisories on the abuse of the painkillers with not much success. But they have begun to pressure drug companies to make their pain relievers as difficult as possible to abuse.

Last year, the management of Perdue Pharma had gone before the FDA advisory panel and stated that their intentions were to offer lower dose, tamper resistant OxyContin, however they would keep the higher doses unchanged. However the FDA thought that it would send an unclear message to doctors that perhaps all dosages may have been reformulated, so the company has decided to make the tamper proof changes to all dosage levels of the medication.

Recent information posted on the Perdue Pharma website have indicated that although there is no complete way to prevent tampering of the medication, their new tamper proof style would significantly discourage possible abuse because they are harder to break down for snorting or injecting and would take a significant amount of time to crack.

With annual sales of more than $2 billion according to IMS health, OxyContin was the highest seller as the medication accounts for over half of the codeine based medications on the market including Vicodin and all the generics that are derived from it as well.