FDA Tightens Indications for Using Long-Acting and Extended-Release Opioids to Treat Chronic Pain

Abstract

In an effort to help curb the ongoing epidemic of prescription opioid abuse and overdoses, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is tightening the indications for long-acting and extended-release versions of these drugs and is requiring the drugs� manufacturers to conduct long-term postmarketing studies. �The FDA is concerned about inappropriate use of [opioid pain medications], which has reached epidemic proportions in the United States,� said FDA Commissioner Margaret A. Hamburg, MD, during a press briefing in September.