According to an article published in MedPage Today, the FDA
has ordered a class-wide label change for long-acting opioids. The opioids,
such as OxyContin, would be limited to patients with only severe pain.
With this move, the agency hopes it will help the
prescription painkiller epidemic. The drugs, which are important pain relieving
medications that provide significant benefits when used appropriately, will
also include a label clarification about the risks of abuse and death while
taking it as well as a boxed warning about the risks of neonatal opioid
withdrawals syndrome.
The indication of the drugs will be changed to people who
have pain severe enough to require daily and long-term treatment where alternative
treatment options are inadequate. Physicians and patients will have to discuss
the eligibility of the opioids. Therefore, patients in pain will be assessed by
a thoughtful determination of pain instead of by a rating on a pain scale.
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