Impact of updated OxyContin unclear, experts find

It’s not clear whether a reformulated version of OxyContin designed to be harder to misuse led to declines in overdoses and deaths, an FDA advisory panel has found. The experts determined that the newer drug, released in 2010, was, as designed, snorted and injected less compared to the original version, but that there wasn’t firm evidence that it contributed to less misuse or fewer overdoses overall. At the meeting, which came as the FDA reviews whether opioid painkillers meant to discourage misuse fulfilled that claim, experts acknowledged that it can be difficult to disentangle which substances cause overdoses given that people often mix them.