Government
Guarding against abuse
NEWS IN BRIEF — Posted Feb. 9, 2004
To help prevent misuse of prescription drugs, the federal government should encourage new drug applications to include a strategy for monitoring the drugs' use and identifying potential abuse and diversion problems, the U.S. General Accounting Office stated in a recent report.
The recommendation comes after the GAO looked at how Purdue Pharma marketed and promoted OxyContin and examined what factors contributed to the abuse and diversion of the pain killer. The report, "Prescription Drugs: OxyContin Abuse and Diversion and Efforts to Address the Problem," can be found online (link).
Note: This item originally appeared at http://www.ama-assn.org/amednews/2004/02/09/gvbf0209.htm.
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