U.S. FDA Bans Generic OxyContin Fearing Abuse

The United States Food and Drug Administration has recently ruled that generic versions of the popular painkiller OxyContin will have to adhere to recent formula changes designed to make the drug harder to abuse.

 The FDA stated that allowing generic versions of the drug to be manufactured would be unacceptable because it would "pose an increased potential for certain types of abuse.

 This decision is a victory for Purdue Pharma LP, which has been manufacturing a version of the drug that is designed to be more difficult to crush, break or dissolve with the same long-lasting and intense results, as in recent years instances of addiction stemming from crushing and shorting entire doses at once began to soar.