New Salvo Against Opioid Abuse

Abstract

Building on its recent efforts to reverse the US epidemic of opioid abuse, the FDA has issued draft guidance for the pharmaceutical industry to develop generic abuse-deterrent formulations of approved opioid medications. Last year, the FDA provided the industry with final guidance on developing abuse-deterrent versions of brand-name opioids. “We recognize that abuse-deterrent technology is still evolving and is only 1 piece of a much broader strategy to combat the problem of opioid abuse,” FDA Commissioner Robert Califf, MD, said in a statement (http://1.usa.gov/25nA0QN).