New pill, new rules coming to combat OxyContin abuse

Canadians are being cut off OxyContin, the highly addictive and abused painkiller made from oxycodone.

At the end of the month, Purude Pharma will stop making OxyContin and replace it with a new formula, called OxyNEO.

“There was a need to develop what could be considered a tamper-resistant product,” said Susan Pierce of Health Canada.

If taken properly, OxyContin slowly releases doses of oxycodone into the body. But to get high quickly, abusers would chew on the tablet, or pulverize it for snorting. Some would even crush the pill and mix it with water, so they could inject it.

But OxyNEO’s formula is supposed to prevent this from happening. The tablet is difficult to crush, according to its manufacturer. And if it is combined with water, the mixture becomes a viscous gel, making injection difficult.

“Having received a notice of compliance from Health Canada in August 2011, OxyNEO will be replacing OxyContin on the Canadian market prompting questions regarding its ability to deter abuse, how to integrate the new formulation into clinical practice, and how to identify candidates for therapy,” Purude Pharma said in a news release.

Ada Tompson’s son Michael died of an OxyContin overdose when he was 29.

“I think (the drug) is a devil by another name.”

She found him dead in his bed. But Tompson says her son wasn’t crushing or injecting the drug.

“A lot of the problem just comes from people just taking it, as prescribed by their doctor…where they ingest the pill and they do become addicted,” says Tompson.

“You (could) become addicted to this product because you’ve misused this product. My son didn’t do any of that and he became addicted. And he was seeing one doctor.”

In 2011, more than 500,000 OxyContin prescriptions were written by Ontario doctors alone.

Tompson insists, “The doctors have to tell the public about these drugs that are dangerous, that they are highly addictive, that they are molecularly similar to heroin before they prescribe them.”

“We have an epidemic of addiction and death and this is coming from doctors.”

But new rules are on the way for accessing prescription opioids, like oxycodone, for Ontarians and Aboriginal Canadians. More people in Canada use presciption opioids than any other country in the world. As a result, many people will soon experience serious withdrawal due to the drug’s nature.

Like the introduction of OxyNEO, the new rules aim to prevent prescription painkiller abuse and choke off supply to the black market.

OxyContin has been smuggled in by air and ice road to many of Canada’s First Nations reserves, where abuse is prevalent. Some communities are reporting between 50 to 70 per cent of their populations are hooked on the painkiller, which is twice as strong as morphine.

Nishnawbe Aski Nation chief Stan Beardy says a catastrophe is looming with OxyContin soon to be out of production. He and his colleagues are worried entire communities will be required to go cold turkey to come off the heroin-like drug.

But Health Canada is promising a surge in treatment programs to deal with the withdrawal. “We will have some primary care on the ground to help manage any possible problems that could arise,” says Pierce.

Ontario patients prescribed OxyContin will continue to receive it for one month, but all coverage of OxyContin will end on April 2.

After that date, those patients will receive OxyNEO for a year. If the drug is required after that time the patient will need approval through the Exceptional Access Program.

Tompson says the moves are a “step in the right direction,” but the problem will remain. “We need the government to step in and do better scrutiny of the drugs.”

“We need to understand there are so many opioid narcotics out there, not just OxyContin.”

With files from Jennifer Tryon and The Canadian Press