Drug Manufacturers Working On Non-Crushable, Non-Dissolvable Painkillers to Lessen Addiction Potential
When drug makers changed opioid formulas to release the medicine gradually over a period of several hours, believing it might deter potential addictions, people responded by learning to inject or dissolve the pills to get the same fast "high" they desired. Plans to create a form of the drug that was hard to abuse were returned to the drawing board.
A recent ABC News article addressed the efforts of FDA and pharmaceutical manufacturers to develop what they hope will be tough-to-abuse versions of popular and widely abused opioid prescription painkillers. One has already hit the market, and others are expected to enter soon - but addiction experts have doubts as to whether or not a truly safe version of painkillers is possible as the nation's rate of opioid addiction climbs higher and higher.
Purdue, the manufacturers of OxyContin, plans to follow suit with a modified type of the drug soon that may be even more resistant to tampering. The FDA is also reviewing similar products from other opioid manufacturers to see if they are safe and may lessen the risk of addiction.
Other manufacturers of prescription painkillers are working on formulas that may prevent users from consuming too many at the same time. This includes making pills that aren't crushable and can't be combined with a beverage, or by adding other chemicals to the medications that produce withdrawal-like symptoms if the pills are crushed into powder. Some, including Pfizer, have modified formulas to make them uncomfortable if snorted through the nose. Painkillers like OxyContin's revised formula have a high enough resin base that they are very hard to dissolve in beverages and hard to turn into powder.
Still, addiction and psychiatric experts way making the pills less susceptible to abuse is only one step. Further education and training for physicians toward monitoring patients' opiate use is another key piece of solving the nation's painkiller addiction battle.