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Finding Balance Amid the Opioid Abuse Crisis

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I have been around long enough to say that the pendulum swings back and forth regarding the feelings of “experts” on prescribing and dispensing drugs. In the 1990s, it was discovered that Americans were being undertreated for pain, something that I think was valid then and is still valid today.

The pharmaceutical companies initially produced more powerful and longer-acting opioids, morphine and oxycodone. The most successful and most abused was OxyContin, a product that has been used widely by legitimate patients and, unfortunately, illegitimately by others. Purdue Pharma went on to spend millions to not only develop an abuse-deterrent formulation but also assist law enforcement and others in reducing the abuse of its own medication.

The new, reformulated OxyContin found its way to retail pharmacies in August 2010. However, the already-stocked old drug remained on the shelves and did not become almost entirely unavailable until late 2010 or early 2011. [Read more…]

Abuse-Deterrent Immediate-Release Opioids

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Although RoxyBond is not the first abuse-deterrent oxycodone immediaterelease (IR) product, it is different. In April 2017, RoxyBond gained FDA approval based on manufacturer claims that the drug has qualities that are effective against nasal or intravenous (IV) abuse. The approval was not unanimous, however, especially on the question of whether the formulation could significantly deter IV abuse of the drug.

The development of abuse-deterrent formulations for IR Class II (CII) drugs could be very significant. Because these medications are far more prescribed and abused than extended-release (ER) versions, offering an abuse-deterrent IR product could have a huge effect on prescription drug diversion. [Read more…]

INNOVATIVE NEW JERSEY COMPANY PATENTS “TALKING PILLS” AS A SOLUTION TO THE OPIOID EPIDMIC

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The U.S. Patent & Trademark Office (USPTO) on May 30, 2017 issued a patent on a potential breakthrough solution to the opioid epidemic. The patent is for both a drug delivery and abuse deterrence device that will be submitted to the U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA) for marketing clearance.

The FDA is very experienced when it comes to intelligent pill technologies, but not until the newly patented “Smart Pill Drug Delivery Device” was presented to the agency did they see a solution with potential to solve primary challenges with opioids. The FDA wants “smart pill” technology for opiates to be produced and submitted so it can be efficiently reviewed through every relevant FDA division. To that end, the FDA, in a pre-IND / pre-IDE meeting, provided Pop Test (PT) Abuse Deterrent Technologies with a roadmap of guidances to get there.  www.SmartPillsSaveLives.com

The Smart Pill Drug Delivery Device prevents overdoses on prescription opioids. It also prevents the ability to counterfeit opioids.  Finally, it prevents the ability to divert pills from their prescribed user to others. The “Smart Pills” communicate with each other and they “talk” to the dispensing pharmacist and sometimes to law enforcement, too. The Smart Pills know the prescribed dosage for a patient, and if exceeded, the Smart Pills warn each other to not open their capsule to release medicinal contents, and this action thereby prevents an overdose.   [Read more…]

Substance Abuse in Rural America

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I have always lived in rural America, even when working in a city. I prefer rural areas because of their friendly folks with core values and the landscape—open fields, woods, and livestock, mainly beef cattle!

Since April 2016, I’ve had a part-time job commanding the Brown County, Ohio, drug and major crimes taskforce, which needed to be reenergized and expanded. I live just 15 minutes away and was eager to assist. For the past 2 years, Brown County (population: 45,000) has led Ohio in unintentional overdose deaths per capita. With Ohio appearing to lead the country in the number of these deaths, Brown County is a top contending overall leader in this tragedy. At first, I found this almost unbelievable, but then I began to receive almost daily texts regarding overdoses and related deaths in the county. Life squads and emergency medical technicians seem to be constantly busy trying to save individuals with naloxone, whether it be 1 dose or multiple doses. [Read more…]

Securing Medicine Cabinets: How Pharmacists Can Help

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One topic of prescription drug diversion not discussed as much as it ought to be these days involves your medicine cabinet. It is a huge source of prescription drug abuse for youths between 12 and 17 years of age, mostly because it is easily accessible and because teenagers have little ability to doctor shop or pass forged or altered prescriptions.

This would be enough of a concern if youths were the only individuals accessing these drugs, but there are others with access, too, whom you might not ever suspect. Over the years, I have seen cases in which individuals who paint houses, deliver refrigerators, or lay carpet pilfer drugs from bathroom medicine cabinets. Most home dwellers would not think twice about protecting these potentially dangerous and valuable commodities that sit for months or years in that “special” cabinet in the bathroom. [Read more…]

How BIG is the problem?

Year after year, state and local law enforcement statistics indicate that pharmaceuticals are almost 30% of the overall drug problem in the United States, running a close second only marijuana abuse. However, until recently, law enforcement, health care professionals, and the general public have placed little emphasis on this huge problem.

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Pharmaceutical Diversion Education (PDE) is designed to assist a wide range of the population in understanding the potential abuse and addiction that can be associated with prescription medication.

Drug Diversion:
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