'Hard to Abuse' Painkiller Approved by FDA

Just in the last decade, there has been a dramatic rise in prescription drug abuse. From 2000 to 2010, as Enforcement Administration figures show, there has been a 16-fold increase for opioid painkillers, including OxyContin, Percocet (oxycodone), and Vicodin (hydrocodone.) Oxycodone and hydrocodone overdoses claimed the lives of 14,000 in 2008 alone.

Though using painkillers can be quite addictive if not taken as directed, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) have come up with a new painkiller drug that is allegedly harder to abuse. The combination pain pill, manufactured by the same company that produces OxyContin, has created the medication Purdue Pharma's Targiniq ER--an extended release pill that contains oxycodone and naloxone.

Though oxycodone is the main ingredient in OxyContin, when users try to crush Targiniq ER for snorting or injecting, naloxone's effects will prevent the high effects of oxycodone. Furthermore, Naloxone can also reverse opioid effects. 

''The FDA is committed to combating the misuse and abuse of all opioids, and the development of opioids that are harder to abuse is needed in order to help address the public health crisis of prescription drug abuse in the U.S.,'' said FDA's Dr. Sharon Hertz, via Boston.

As increasing deaths tied to opioid painkiller use has put pressure on the health organizations to come up with more and better solutions, critics like Dr. Andrew Kolodny, president of Physicians for Responsible Opioid Prescribing, aren't so certain that creating new pills is really the answer.

"If we really want to turn this epidemic around, the most important thing is to stop creating new cases of addiction," Dr. Kolodny added. "Coming up with new gimmicks isn't going to help."

For those who do not respond to other pain medications, Targiniq ER will be available as an option to better manage pain. The manufacturer of the drug will also carry out long-term follow-up studies to more closely monitor rates of abuse, addiction and any overdoses related to the medication in the future.