Stop selling illegal narcotics: the US FDA sends a warning to drug companies

摘要

The US FDA has warned nine companies to end the production of 14 narcotic painkillers that have not received regulatory approval. An estimated 2% of prescription drugs reach the market without approval, and most of these are generic variations of other drugs already being marketed.Each of the targeted drugs highlighted in the recent warning letters are morphine relatives. They are either immediate-release, fast-acting morphine, hydro-morphone or oxycodone pills, or highly concentrated liquid forms of morphine. The drugs under scrutiny either did not go through the approval process or were introduced before the US FDA had ruled on the applications to approve them.