Painkiller 10 times stronger than Vicodin being developed – sparking addiction fears

Drug companies are developing a painkiller ten times stronger than Vicodin which addiction experts fear could spark a wave of abuse. Four companies have begun patient testing on the pills which are the first to contain the addictive ingredient hydrocodone in a pure form. If approved, it would mark the first time patients could legally buy pure hydrocodone as existing products combine the drug with nonaddictive painkillers such as acetaminophen.

The pharmaceutical firms claim the new drug will give doctors another tool to help patients manage pain. The companies also say patients will be more closely supervised. However addiction experts fear abusers will crush the pills into a fine powder and snort it to get high. Such practice is common with the painkiller oxycodone, currently the most-abused medicine in the U.S.

April Rovero, president of the National Coalition Against Prescription Drug Abuse told Fox news: ‘I have a big concern that this could be the next OxyContin. ‘We just don’t need this on the market.’

According to the DEA, there were 19,221 emergency room visits as a result of hydrocodone abuse in 2000. The figure was 86,258 in 2009. Between 2003 and 2007 in the state of Florida alone, hydrocodone caused 910 deaths and contributed to 1,803 others.

Andrew Kolodny, president of Physicians for Responsible Opioid Prescribing told CBS: ‘You’ve got a person on your product for life, and a doctor’s got a patient who’s never going to miss an appointment, because if they did and they didn’t get their prescription, they would feel very sick. Abuse: Addicts crush pills such as oxycodone into a fine powder which they snort to get high. ‘It’s a terrific business model, and that’s what these companies want to get in on.’

The San Diego company Zogenix plans hopes to begin marketing its product, Zohyadro, in early 2013. Rival companies Perdue Pharma, Cephalon, and Egalet are developing their own versions. Zogenix chief executive Roger Hawley claims Zohydro will be a safer painkiller than Vicodin as Vicodin contains acetaminophen which can be dangerous to the liver.

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CDC Report on Prescription Painkiller Overdose is a Call To Action

By Grant Baldwin, PhD, MPH November 4, 2011

The CDC (Center for Disease Control), deals with the numbers and statistics affecting the public’s health every day. Rarely do these numbers reveal the full and tragic story they actually represent. The CDC’s report this week on prescription painkiller overdoses is one of these rare instances, confirming a story many of us have heard in communities across America.
Prescription painkillers (drugs like oxycodone, hydrocodone and methadone) killed nearly 15,000 people in 2008—one person every forty minutes. These were husbands and sons, mothers and daughters, often struggling with addiction for months or years before losing their lives. And the problem has never been worse. For every person who died of a prescription painkiller overdose in 1999, nearly four died in 2008. We are in the midst of an epidemic.
But the number of deaths isn’t the whole story. This sharp rise in prescription painkiller overdoses parallels a similarly large increase in painkiller sales. Four times as many prescription painkillers were sold in the U.S. last year than in 1999.
Astonishingly, in 2010 enough painkillers were prescribed to medicate every American adult around-the-clock for a month.
States can support prescription drug monitoring programs—electronic databases that track controlled substance prescriptions, which are promising tools for helping medical professionals identify patients who may be abusing these drugs. Health care providers can follow guidelines for safe painkiller prescribing and screen patients for warning signs of abuse. This is so important because we can reduce the number of people who are abusing and overdosing, while also ensuring that patients with pain are treated safely and effectively.
Individuals can also make an impact. More than half of all people who misuse prescription painkillers report getting their drugs from a family member or friend. Individuals must make sure to use prescription painkillers only as directed and to never share them with others. People should also take care to store their prescriptions safely, dispose of them properly and get help if they have substance abuse problems.
Preventing prescription painkiller overdoses is a CDC priority. The lives impacted by painkiller abuse and overdose can be found everywhere—a father who becomes addicted to painkillers after a work injury and overdoses, a teenager who takes an old bottle of painkillers from a relative’s medicine cabinet or a mother who loses a son to painkillers only to find her other child is also addicted. This week’s CDC report on prescription painkiller overdose is a call to action. This epidemic is affecting our own neighbors and communities. Working together, we can turn the tide and have the numbers tell a different story.

Painkiller 10 times stronger than Vicodin being developed – sparking addiction fears

Drug companies are developing a painkiller ten times stronger than Vicodin which addiction experts fear could spark a wave of abuse. Four companies have begun patient testing on the pills which are the first to contain the addictive ingredient hydrocodone in a pure form. If approved, it would mark the first time patients could legally buy pure hydrocodone as existing products combine the drug with nonaddictive painkillers such as acetaminophen.

The pharmaceutical firms claim the new drug will give doctors another tool to help patients manage pain. The companies also say patients will be more closely supervised. However addiction experts fear abusers will crush the pills into a fine powder and snort it to get high. Such practice is common with the painkiller oxycodone, currently the most-abused medicine in the U.S.

April Rovero, president of the National Coalition Against Prescription Drug Abuse told Fox news: ‘I have a big concern that this could be the next OxyContin. ‘We just don’t need this on the market.’

According to the DEA, there were 19,221 emergency room visits as a result of hydrocodone abuse in 2000. The figure was 86,258 in 2009. Between 2003 and 2007 in the state of Florida alone, hydrocodone caused 910 deaths and contributed to 1,803 others.

Andrew Kolodny, president of Physicians for Responsible Opioid Prescribing told CBS: ‘You’ve got a person on your product for life, and a doctor’s got a patient who’s never going to miss an appointment, because if they did and they didn’t get their prescription, they would feel very sick. Abuse: Addicts crush pills such as oxycodone into a fine powder which they snort to get high. ‘It’s a terrific business model, and that’s what these companies want to get in on.’

The San Diego company Zogenix plans hopes to begin marketing its product, Zohyadro, in early 2013. Rival companies Perdue Pharma, Cephalon, and Egalet are developing their own versions. Zogenix chief executive Roger Hawley claims Zohydro will be a safer painkiller than Vicodin as Vicodin contains acetaminophen which can be dangerous to the liver.