Pharmacy Daily | ‘No major’ OxyContin probs

Mundipharma has sent a letter to pharmacists saying there have been “no major problems” reported with the changeover from the original OxyContin tablets (oxycodone) with the manufacturer’s tamper-proof formulation (PD 03 Jun). Managing director Jane Orr wrote on 20 Aug that reports from press of continued abuse of OxyContin could be “misleading” if they referenced supply of medicines before the change over to the tamper-proof product on 01 Apr, which was now the only formula available on the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS). Orr said pharmacy staff had reported that demands from “a small cohort of difficult customers with questionable clinical need for the product have diminished” and that reports that there were ways to overcome the abuse-resistant properties did not mean the technology had been “cracked”. Sales of the OxyContin tablets most commonly sought for diversion had decreased by 28% since the reformulation was introduced, Orr said. She also referenced figures from the Medically Supervised Injection Centre (PD 16 Jul) which showed a preliminary reduction in onsite Oxycontin injection from about 800 visits per week to 50. The National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre has said it is in the process of evaluating the tamperproof formulation. The patent for OxyContin expired in July and the Generic Medicines Industry has previously said generics played a crucial role in containing expenditure, and sponsors were required to adhere to the same high standards as the original brand (PD 04 Jun).

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