It was too good to be true: Addiction-free opioids appear to still be a fantasy.
In the wake of a recent lab test, the Food and Drug Administration appears less likely to approve use of a painkiller that its manufacturer, New York City-based Pfizer Inc., is touting as being less vulnerable to abuse. The agency conducted a review of the drug, and found that oxycodone can still be extracted from the pills with solvents.
The review found that a number of easily-accessible solvents could allow for easy extraction of the powerful drug, contrary to Pfizer's own claim that only one specific solvent would do the trick.
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The drug, Troxyca ER, contains oxycodone as well as naltrexone, which is supposed to counteract the effect of oxycodone if the pills are crushed.
Pfizer is hoping that the agency will approve the drug as "abuse-deterrent." An agency advisory panel comprised of outside experts will discuss the issue and vote on whether to recommend the drug's authorization.
The panel will also consider recommending another purported abuse-deterrent painkiller, Vantrela ER by Israel-based Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. A recent review of Vantrela pills, which contain oxycodone, yielded mixed results. The tests suggested that the drug is indeed less dangerous when snorted or injected, but not necessarily safer if swallowed.
The FDA is under increased pressure from lawmakers to more closely scrutinize the use of opioids as painkillers in the midst of skyrocketing opioid addiction. Many political leaders have blamed the addiction crisis on the FDA, saying that it has been asleep at the wheel as pharmaceutical companies have pushed powerful, addictive painkillers onto the American public.
Those who get hooked on painkillers often turn to heroin, which is often cheaper and easier to access, to get their opiate fix.
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