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Article: MAKER OF OXYCONTIN TOUGHENS ITS TABLETS
- Article from:
- Roanoke Times & World News
- Article date:
- May 2, 2008
- Author:
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Copyright informationCopyright 2008 Roanoke Times & World News. Provided by ProQuest LLC. (Hide copyright information)
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The maker of OxyContin has developed a new form of the tablet
that it says will be harder to crush into a powder -- a process
that converted what might have been a miracle painkiller into a
street drug with the potency of heroin.
In documents released Thursday by the U.S. Food and Drug
Administration, Purdue Pharma described a new form of OxyContin that
has been in the works for more than five years.
The new tablets have "plasticlike properties which make them
difficult to break," the company said.
Purdue, which hopes to market its newly formulated drug under the
same OxyContin brand name, is seeking approval from the FDA. A
hearing is scheduled for Monday in Gaithersburg, Md., before two ...