The Food and Drug Administration banned the production of the generic version of crushable pain killer OxyContin because of abusive use nationwide.
The FDA has asked manufactures to stop producing the generic version of crushable pain killer OxyContin because of its decade-long epidemic of prescription drug abuse.
"The FDA will not approve any generics to the original formulation of OxyContin," said FDA spokeswoman Morgan Liscinsky. She clarified that now there are no FDA-approved generics of OxyContin in the market.
FDA announced the decision Tuesday, the day when patent for the original version of OxyContin was set to expire. The organization fears that this expiration could flood the market with cheaper, easily crushable generic versions of the drug that could further accelerate the already existing drug problem that is a major issue in the country.
"I think (this decision) saves lives," said Karen Kelly, president and chief executive of the Eastern Kentucky anti-drug organization Operation UNITE. "Preventing this from hitting the streets is a major victory."
"The FDA undoubtedly saved our nation from another deadly tidal wave of oxycodone abuse and overdoses," said Rogers, co-chairman of the Congressional Caucus on Prescription Drug Abuse. "I commend Dr. Hamburg for leading the way and pressing forward to ensure that this original, deadly patent didn't expire without the mechanisms to significantly prevent abuse and misuse of these drugs."
Dr. Throckmorton, deputy director for regulatory programs in the FDA's Center for Drug Evaluation and Research, said his agency will do everything it can to help prevent drug abuse, and "the development of abuse-deterrent opioid analgesics is a public health priority for the FDA."
"The decision is the first time that the agency has allowed a manufacturer to state that a narcotic drug has tamper-resistant properties," said Throckmorton.
