Combating the Opioid Crisis

Excerpt: “Each calendar year, the DEA sets the aggregate production quota (APQ) of controlled substances, including opioids, to ensure that patients have the medicines they need while also reducing excess production of controlled prescription drugs that can be diverted and misused,” wrote Walden, Guthrie, Burgess, and Griffith.

Click HERE to read the letter to DEA.

Washington, D.C. - Energy and Commerce Committee Republican Leader Greg Walden (R-OR), Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee Republican Leader Brett Guthrie (R-KY), and Representative Morgan Griffith (R-VA) sent a letter to Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Commissioner Stephen Hahn, M.D., to request information on the FDA approval of a OxyContin label change in 2001.

The inquiry follows a briefing FDA provided at the request of bipartisan E&C leaders, in which the FDA presented information they believed showed the opioid crisis was not exacerbated by their decision to approve the change...

Excerpt: “Thus, this additional context and customary data standardization should be taken into account in assessing the potential role the 2001 label change had on the opioid epidemic. Studies, documents, and other data support these concerns related to higher dosage and longer duration in oxycodone prescribing (including OxyContin prescribing) that contributed to the opioid crisis,” wrote Walden, Guthrie and Griffith.

CLICK HERE to read the letter to FDA.