There’s a new painkiller on the market. It’s called Zohydro. It offers a new formulation for those in pain: 100% hydrocodone.
Of course, there were already hydrocodone painkillers on the market. They contained, usually, 10 milligrams of hydrocodone and 325 milligrams of acetaminophen. This is the formulation brand named Vicodin or Lortab, among others. You may know acetaminophen by its best known brand name, Tylenol.
One of the reasons Vicodin (and other formulations) had acetaminophen was to discourage abuse by addicts. Many people know that acetaminophen causes liver damage or even failure if too much is taken, especially if it is taken together with alcohol. The idea was that people would want to avoid liver damage and do would not abuse this pill.
It didn’t work very well. In 2011, an estimated 82,000 people arrived in emergency rooms to get help after abusing hydrocodone. That’s more than any other painkiller except for oxycodone (OxyContin).
Zogenix, a drug manufacturer, proposed to the Food and Drug Administration that they market a 100% hydrocodone formula. Despite the recommendation of a panel convened by the FDA who turned the proposal down, the FDA approved this drug in late 2013 and it is currently being prescribed.
Will it turn out to be a favorite drug of abuse by those who crave opiates?
Just on the face of it, it seems like a perfect formulation for someone wanting an opiate. A powerful punch of drug, all in one pill. And perhaps most importantly, no tamper-resistant feature. In other words, it can be easily crushed or dissolved. Which means there is nothing to stop addicts from abusing this drug by snorting or injecting it.
If you want to read about the track of this drug through the expert panel and FDA approval and what some of the medical professionals in New York think is going to happen now, New York Magazine has published thorough article on this. http://nymag.com/health/bestdoctors/2014/zohydro-2014-6/. You will have enough information to draw your own conclusions.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), we were already in the middle of a prescription drug epidemic. One hundred people die every day from drug overdoses and prescription painkillers are felling more than heroin and cocaine combined. It certainly seems like the wrong time to put another powerful painkiller on the market. You can read the CDC information here: http://www.cdc.gov/homeandrecreationalsafety/rxbrief/.
If you would like about prescription drugs, you can find a simple guide to what you need to know here: http://www.narconon.org/drug-abuse/10-things-prescription-drugs.html.