[Note: This posting is a continuation of a report on
the development of a civics unit of study.
This unit is directing students to formulate informed positions on the
opioid epidemic. Presently, this
development, in real time, is reporting a set of factoids on a particular drug
which is part of this epidemic.]
The next class of opioids
this development will address is Oxycodone, including a derivative of this
drug, OxyContin. When it comes to
recreational use of opioids among Americans, these two forms constitute the
most used. According to the US
Department of Health and Human Services report, circa 11 million Americans
consume an oxycodone drug for recreational or non-medical reasons. As such, Oxycodone accounts for a large
portion of this epidemic.[1]
Oxycodone has its own history in the US. It starts in 1939 when it was first made
available on these shores. But it took
until 1970s before US authorities, in the Food and Drug Administration, to deem
this drug as having a high probability of being abused and potentially causing
addiction. This government agency did
this by classifying it as a Schedule II drug.
As the short history – provided in previous postings – indicates, the
drug company, Purdue Pharma, began an active campaign to popularize a form of
the drug in 1996. To get around the
addictive quality of the drug, this company introduced OxyContin.
This
“controlled release” formulation of the drug was meant to make the resulting
product less apt to be addictive and the FDA approved it. Unfortunately, it did not take a long time
before consumers learned how to derive a purer oxycodone drug by simply
crushing the controlled release tablets.
They then could consume the derived drug by various ways: swallowing, inhaling, or injecting it. Any of these modes renders a very powerful
opioid.[2]
The
derived drug, when consumed, results in an upgraded “high” that is described as
being “morphine-like.” Purdue’s eventual
testing in 1995 demonstrated how users, by crushing their product, could
extract a 68% oxycodone.[3] All these developments cost Purdue
dearly. Eventually, in 2007, the company
paid a $600 million fine for making false claims about their product
specifically regarding its risks.[4] Then, in 2010, the company issued a newer
version.
In
that year, Purdue introduced a reformulated OxyContin. By using a polymer, they made their pills
very difficult to crush or dissolve. In
turn, this made the product significantly less apt of being abused. Predictably, documented use of the drug declined
slightly.[5]
Despite
this development, in 2012, Canada’s government decided to strip OxyContin from
its approved drug list. In 2017, the FDA
requested the producers of oxymorphone, an injectable form of the opioid, to
remove it from the domestic market. The
agency determined that the risk of the drug is greater than its benefits. This marked a turning point for the FDA since
it was the first time it issued such a request due to fears of abuse.
The
next posting will look at fentanyl.
[1] “Opioid Crisis
Fast Facts,” CNN Library, June 16,
2018, accessed June 25, 2018, https://www.cnn.com/2017/09/18/health/opioid-crisis-fast-facts/index.html
.
[2] Art Van Zee, “The Promotion and Marketing of
OxyContin: Commercial Triumph, Public Health Tragedy,” American Journal of Public Health, vol. 99, no. 2, (February 2009),
221-2273.
[3] Ibid.
[4] Barry Meier, “In Guilty Plea, OxyContin
Maker to Pay $600 Million,” The New York Times, May 10, 2007, accessed
June 29, 2018, https://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/10/business/11drug-web.html?mtrref=www.google.com&gwh=5EB54309CD06FBA620248E850CC5CC0B&gwt=pay .
[5] Catherine S Hwang; Hsien-Yen Chang; Caleb G Alexander, "Impact of Abuse-Deterrent
OxyContin on Prescription Opioid Utilization," Pharmacoepidemiology
and Drug Safety, 24, no. 2, 2015, 197–204.
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