Back in February of 2009, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) requested that manufacturers of prescription pain medications develop a joint plan to deal with the public health problem of the abuse of these medications, particularly involving slow release and long-acting versions of the drugs morphine, methadone, oxycodone, and other opioids. This is the first time the federal agency has attempted to develop risk evaluation and improvement strategies for an entire class of drugs.
In early December 2009, the FDA followed up on their request and industry representatives reported that they intend to develop a phased-in approach to deal with the problem; their proposed potential approaches include a voluntary training program for doctors to provide better education about the proper use of pain killers and government certification for prescribing of controlled substances. Currently, a physician must be certified by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency to prescribe this class of drugs, and any changes and required trainings to receive DEA certification would need to be approved by Congress. The overall goal of the plan is to decrease abuse of prescription pain medications while still maintaining access for patients who require pain management.
The FDA plans to hold more meetings with the industry group, doctors and the public later on this year.
Sources:
Orlofsky S. FDA seeks plan to curb opioid pain killer abuse. Reuters. Published 2009-12-4. Accessed 2010-1-11.
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