Journal of Pain Research (Sep 2016)
OxyContin was submitted and justifiably approved by the agency as a 12-hour dosage form
Abstract
Jeffrey Fudin,1,2 Mena Raouf,3 Erica L Wegrzyn4 1REMITIGATE, LLC, 2Stratton Veteran Affairs Medical Center, Albany, NY, 3Veteran Affairs Tennessee Valley Healthcare System, Alvin C York Campus, Murfreesboro, TN, 4Stratton Veteran Affairs Medical Center, Albany, NY, USAExtended-release (ER) or long-acting (LA) opioids are increasingly used for management of chronic pain. Approximately 3.8 million patients receive prescriptions for ER/ LA opioids in the US.1 The number of prescriptions dispensed for ER/LA has more than doubled over the past decade, increasing from 9.3 million in 2000 to 22.9 million in 2009. Consequently, in 2012, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) developed a risk evaluation and mitigation strategy for ER/LA opioids.2