In October of 2013, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved Zohydro ER (hydrocodone bitartrate) for patients with pain that requires daily, around-the-clock, long-term treatment that cannot be treated with other drugs. The active ingredient in Zohydro is the opioid hydrocodone. However, unlike Vicodin, Zohydro can be taken without the threat of severe liver damage, which can occur with medications that combine hydrocodone and acetaminophen.
The drug has reportedly been approved in large part on the claim from the Institute of Medicine (IOM) in a report titled “Relieving Pain in America, A Blueprint for Transforming Prevention, Care, Education, and Research” that “100 million people suffer from chronic pain.” However, Forbes, MedPage Today, and the Wall Street Journal have all questioned whether that number is accurate, or whether it’s exaggerated and misleading. Approximately half of the experts on the IOM panel that produced that report had connections to companies that manufacture narcotic painkillers.
From a DUI standpoint, central nervous system depressants like opioids present a problem when the effects of the drugs prevent a driver from being able to operate a vehicle safely. Symptoms or side effects such as drowsiness, respiratory depression, nodding off, and slower reaction times can all increase the risk of an accident, serious physical injury, or even death. From a criminal defense standpoint, this new drug also presents a very high risk for abuse. It’s been described as “heroin in a pill.” Unlike other prescription opiates, it does not contain safeguards or countermeasures designed to prevent users from crushing the pills for snorting or injecting in a liquid solution. It’s unfortunately quite common for some patients addicted to prescription opiates to turn to non-prescription opiates (namely heroin) when either the prescription opiate no longer provides relief (due to tolerance or increased pain), or the patient finds that heroin is more potent and less expensive than prescription opiates.
As if all this isn’t cause-enough for concern, The New York Times reports that Zohydro ER (extended release), will be made by the same company that manufactures Vivitrol, a drug used to treat patients addicted to opioids or alcohol. Doesn’t that seem like a conflict of interest, and a little too convenient?