The Food and Drug Administration has grown increasingly concerned about the prevalence of prescription drug abuse in the country. In a bid to lower the number of people who become addicted to these types of drugs, they have now released new draft guidance which aims to improve upon a drugmaker’s ability to prevent abuse before it starts.
The FDA wants to make sure that studies are carried out to come up with ways to squelch the most common abuses. Those studies could then be put into practice via deterrence formulations that would prevent large sections of the population from abusing drugs in some way.
For instance, some of the most common ways that an individual may abuse a drug are to crush the item into a powder form that could be easily snorted or to dissolve the drug so that it can be injected directly into the body. The FDA believes that creating products that specifically hinder these types of abuse is an essential part of curtailing the numerous injuries and fatalities which take place every single year throughout the United States.
The FDA also hopes to develop ways to determine the efficacy of abuse deterrent studies and methods of approving claims that can be made on labels and in marketing materials. Additionally, they seek to make sure that drugs are still able to get to the people who need them the most.