New form of OxyContin would thwart abusers

By Rita Rubin, USA TODAY

8/13/01 - http://www.usatoday.com/news/healthscience/health/2001-08-08-oxycontin.htm

The maker of the widely abused drug OxyContin announced Wednesday that it is seeking to patent an abuse-resistant narcotic painkiller.

It's the latest step toward curbing abuse of the highly potent narcotic.

OxyContin, approved for treating moderate to severe long-term pain, slowly releases the narcotic oxycodone when swallowed whole. When chewed or crushed, though, Oxy Contin provides an immediate high like the effect of heroin.

The abuse-resistant pill will contain naltrexone, a drug that counteracts the effects of narcotics, says Robin Hogen, a spokesman for manufacturer Purdue Pharma. Tests show little naltrexone is released when the pill is left intact, the company says. But the entire amount is released when the pill is crushed, which the company hopes will discourage abusers.

Purdue Pharma has not yet decided which narcotic to use in the new pill, Hogen says, but "it most likely will be oxycodone." The product won't be on the market for three to five years.

In response to growing reports of abuse and illegal sales of OxyContin, the Food and Drug Administration last month strengthened warnings on the drug's label, likening it to morphine. Purdue Pharma also mailed letters to more than 800,000 physicians, pharmacists and other health-care providers to explain the labeling changes and highlight the problems of OxyContin abuse.

From 1996, the year OxyContin was introduced, the annual number of U.S. prescriptions soared 20-fold to nearly 6 million last year, according to the Drug Enforcement Administration. Sales last year topped $1 billion. It's unclear how much of that growth reflects a previously unmet need by pain patients and how much represents abuse and illegal sales.

For years, U.S. medical examiners reported 40 to 50 deaths annually from oxycodone overdoses, says Terry Woodworth of the DEA. By 1999, after OxyContin had been on the market a few years, that number was 268.

"This one has taken off faster than any other specific brand name that we've seen," Woodworth says. Even so, he says, "the number of abusers of cocaine far exceeds the number of abusers of OxyContin."