Combating Opioid Abuse Through New Formulations and Policy

摘要

Opioid-related overdose deaths have quadrupled since 1999. To combat this epidemic, pharmaceutical companies are developing various reformulations of commonly used opioid pain medications with abuse-deterring properties. The increase in opioid-overdose deaths has also led to widespread use of prescription drug monitoring programs to identify over-prescribing, diversion, and dispensing of naloxone to reverse opioid overdoses without a prescription in pharmacies, thereby outlining a crucial role for the pharmacist in this epidemic.