Opioids Withdrawal of Opana ER from the market

[Tronica]

The FDA has asked Endo Pharmaceuticals to withdraw Opana ER (extended-release oxymorphone) from the market. Endo Pharmaceuticals announced in July 2017 that it would voluntarily cease sales of Opana ER. It's unclear exactly when sales of the product will cease.

We would like to know how this news affects you? If it does, have you been preparing for the removal of this product, and if so, how?

Note: Inflexxion has collaborated with Bluelight to post this question. They will analyze the responses for research purposes and may summarize the information to present in reports, future scientific conference presentations, and/or publications.

 

[Ozle]

Why are they going after this particular drug rather than, say, Oxycontin?

 

[tacodude]

Because they are afraid it will be the next oxycotin or worse.

I am kind of annoyed as this specific opioid had a long half life even though being very similar to morphine. The only difference I noticed was less side effects like rashing, I would get no rush or pins and needles iving it no matter the dose, it would not be a roller coaster ride of feeling well and unwell between doses, and it generally was benign in effects besides pain relief. I think it is a very stupid move to remove it from the market that not only hurts patients, but adds more restrictions to what are already many that push patients into self medicating usually ending up with heroin then fentanyl laced garbage if careless.

 

[OntarioGuy]

More people are going to be forced onto street heroin, that could he cut with fentanyl and possibly lethal. Seems better to let them have measured doses of pharmacy grade oxymorphone.

I imagine consumption of RC fentanyl analogues will increase drastically

 

[Ozle]

This is fucking ridiculous. Oxymorphone is already a controlled substance, and if used correctly, an effective medication. What does banning it achieve?

If we assume for a moment that the FDA's system works like it is intended to, controlled substances are available only to those who have been properly prescribed it and have a genuine need for it - so, if the system works correctly, nobody who does not medically benefit from the drug will have access to it. If they're deciding to ban it citing "abuse" as the reason, it means that those who are not supposed to be getting hold of this drug are still getting hold of it, thus the system has fundamentally failed.
But, given that the system designed to prevent unauthorized users from getting hold of a drug has failed at doing just that, doesn't that also demonstrate how banning it is equally futile?

If people are able to get hold of substances illicitly, then reducing the legal avenues for obtaining it is going to make little difference. Sure, you might reduce supply and drive up the prices (and likely the crime rate as a result) a little, but you're not going to change the demand for the substance from illicit users, nor the fact that people are going to step in to fill that demand, however illegal it may be. Face it, if people are selling Oxy, heroin and cocaine online, they'll sell anything that that has enough of a market; there are whole businesses out there built around producing and selling drugs (for what is essentially cash) irregardless of the laws in either their country or their clients'.

 

[xivixive]

i fear america is heading the way of europe, except without the OTC codeine. for once, i hope the greed of big pharma wins...

 

[falsifiedhypothesi]

Never had oxymorphone but it's a shame they are pulling it. The long half life seems really useful for pain relief, plus I've always wanted to try it

 

[cj]

It's nothing more then a PR move. Something the FDA can look at and say see we are trying!

 

[Speed King]

Generic oxymorphone Er is snortable. It had no loophole to put tamper stuff in in. I was perscribed it during cancer treatment. I won’t go into why or how, but it pisses on Oxycodone. Like I just drank a 6 pack piss.

Opana should be for severe cancer pain. It was the only medication that came with a leaflef that started with “One dose can kill”. That is a true statement.

It will be missed.

 

[tacodude]

it's nothing more then a pr move. Something the fda can look at and say see we are trying!

qft

 

[Kittycat5]

I think generics arent being voluntarily recalled of the ER form and IR will remain available.

 

[tacodude]

Kitty while it's good the IR formulation will stay, which is of course better than ER IMO while oxycodone is great for ER especially with oxymorphone IR. The issue with this move is it not only brings attention j to what was an obscure and amazing opioid, but it brings a lot of bad publicity to the compound itself making it that much harder to obtain especially when it gets the description of being so strong it's only for cancer pain when as long as the dose is adjusted the based on the levels of pain it becomes the best choice in opioid medication as it has a 7-9 hour half life that is so selective I'm the receptors it binds to all that is experienced is pain relief. Just sayin'

 

[Lucy Bookit]

In a sense, I was lucky because my insurance didn't cover Opana, so my doctor changed me over to the generic oxymorphone er tablets in June. This is covered, and I find them to be more effective/abuse-able. I was also happy to be sticking with the oxymorphone instead of changing to a different med, which I imagine will be happening for a lot of people.

I work in a pharmacy and I'm sure that many doctors will be reluctant to change people to the generic because of their abuse potential. (It's also going to be a pain in the ass for my pharmacist to send those drugs back to the DEA for destruction, but that's our problem haha). Honestly, it has never been a drug we dispensed regularly (I think I was the only person getting it prescribed in the past 3 years I've worked there). I can only assume they'll switch a lot of people over to oxycodone er, mscontin, or maybe fentanyl. They are much more commonly prescribed already, it seems to me.

 

[Hodor]

Why are they going after this particular drug rather than, say, Oxycontin?

Unlike oxycodone, oxymorphone has a very low oral bioavailability (like 10% ), so that could be a pretty major incentive for addicts to inject it.

The prospect of increasing bioavailability by a whopping 1000% might just be so tempting that the new anti-abuse-formula could actually end up doing more harm than good if IV users are getting ischemia from improperly filtered/extracted Opanas.

 

[etnies]

They still make make crush-able generics. I had a 10mg 2 days ago. Clogged my nose really bad for 2 days.

 

[Jabberwocky]

It's nothing more then a PR move. Something the FDA can look at and say see we are trying!

This. It has nothing to do with anything other than publicity.