Oxycontin 10-mg,

Banning less expensive, well-known forms of a risky drug sounds like a worthy concept.

But the Food and Drug Administration’s selection to bar usual OxyContin may push sufferers towards much less effective tablets without getting rid of the hazard of dependancy, professionals say.

“Obviously, there is a fee difficulty,” says Lynn Webster, president of the American Academy of Pain Medicine. “Not having generics means this type of medicine goes to be greater pricey.”

On Tuesday, the FDA stated that it might not approve universal versions of the unique formulation of OxyContin, an extended-appearing narcotic ache remedy, which went off patent that day.

Normally, the give up of the patent’s existence would open the door to generics. But drugmakers should now increase their own abuse-resistant variations in the event that they want to compete for a share of the lucrative marketplace.

In 2010, Purdue Pharma LP replaced the unique OxyContin with an abuse-resistant form, as a way to lessen deaths and overdoses caused by the powerful ache medicinal drug, which changed into certified in 1995.

From 1999 to 2006, deaths concerning prescription opioid painkillers more than tripled, in line with the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In 1997, Purdue pleaded responsible to federal charges that it misbranded the drug via claiming that it turned into more secure and much less addictive than brief-acting narcotic pills like Vicodin and Percocet.