Doctors Say New Pain Pill Is "Genuinely Frightening"

Hugh Pickens DOT Com writes "Stephanie Smith reports at CNN that a coalition of more than 40 health care, consumer and addiction treatment groups is urging the Food and Drug Administration to revoke approval of the new prescription pain drug Zohydro, a hydrocodone-based drug set to become available to patients in March. 'You're talking about a drug that's somewhere in the neighborhood of five times more potent than what we're dealing with now,' says Dr. Stephen Anderson, a Washington emergency room physician who is not part of the most recent petition to the FDA about the drug. 'I'm five times more concerned, solely based on potency.' The concerns echoed by all groups are broadly about the drug's potency and abuse potential. They say they fear that Zohydro — especially at higher doses — will amplify already-rising overdose numbers. 'In the midst of a severe drug epidemic fueled by overprescribing of opioids, the very last thing the country needs is a new, dangerous, high-dose opioid (PDF),' the coalition wrote in a letter to FDA Commissioner Dr. Margaret Hamburg.

Zohydro's maker, Zogenix, and the FDA say the drug's benefits outweigh its risks and in their petition to the FDA for approval, Zogenix representatives say the drug fills a critical need for people suffering from chronic pain who are at risk for liver toxicity and cited examples of patients who might benefit from Zohydro: a 46-year-old male with chronic back and leg pain who had two failed back surgeries; a 52-year-old female with metastatic breast cancer experiencing diffuse pain; a 32-year-old woman with multiple orthopedic fractures. 'There's a lot of misinformation being put out there by people who don't have all the facts,' says Dr. Brad Galer, executive vice president and chief medical officer at Zogenix. 'We're talking about patients that are in bed, depressed, can't sleep, can't work, can't interact with their loved ones — it's a very significant medical health problem that is being ignored.'"

Comments

Re:It's just a tool I guess

[Anonymous Coward]

Posting anonymously for obvious reasons: I actually participated in the drug study of this medication as a patient. I thought it was terribly ineffective for me. I will say up-front that I do not think that my body metabolizes hydro or oxycodone properly. Here was my experience:

I was on a duragesic patch (25 micrograms of fentanyl transdermally, patch is worn for 72 hours). For some reason the patch did not last the full 72 hours so I was on a 48 hour dosing schedule. I felt relatively good. My pain level was manageable and I was not drowsy or loopy. I felt like a normal human being again. I was very content with my treatment. The big issue was that both that medication and my arthritis medication were not covered by my insurance and I was paying $200 a month for my meds. So when I heard about the trial I decided to give it a go.

They started me on 20mg of the med, which was slightly less than the equivalent dose from my patch. I could not get out of bed for three days I was in so much pain (turns out it was partial withdrawal symptoms that was amplifying my pain). The medication was not delivering what my body considered to be an equivalent dose. I stepped up after 3 days. I was still in a lot of pain. I stepped up again, and again all the way up to 120mg doses. At that point it was the equivalent dose of the highest duragesic patch and still I was miserable. At that point I requested that I be released from the study and returned to my pain management doctor's care. At that point, the 25microgram patch was no longer sufficient and I had to step up to the next dose. But again I felt like a normal human being with manageable pain.

In my opinion the fentanyl patch was much more convenient, stable, and provided exponentially better relief. This medicine was garbage for me. However, that does not mean that it can't be useful to some. If they formulate it like the oxycodone ER, in a way that helps prevent crushing, chewing, or other abuse then it may have pharmacological value.

I will say that I believe that fentanyl can be a terrible, terrible drug. I had a procedure that brought my pain levels down to the point that I was in no pain with the fentanyl. I decided to stop the medication. That was hell on earth. I thought I was going to lose my job. I could not sleep, I had no appetite. I felt like a zombie. The doctor gave me oxycodone to help me step down from the last patch and at 2x the dosing the doctor recommended I had no relief from the withdrawal symptoms. I ached for relief so badly that I had to destroy all of the oxycodone to prevent myself from taking too much. I went cold turkey. It took almost a year for my body to return to normal. Without the medication I still have pain but I refuse to go back on. My doctor just writes me a script for a very small monthly supply of oxycodone that I use in case of emergency.

Re: It's just a tool I guess

[parrini]

Are you shure you were not in the control group?

Re:It's just a tool I guess

[bill_mcgonigle]

Sometimes regulating the hell out of things decreases its availability for good use and jump starts the black market for bad use.

Just look at the current refer madness - that's at least starting to somewhat abate. There was just a story yesterday about the Annapolis police chief, who quoted a DailyCurrant article to a State committee about a coroner who had to put five college students in body bags before breakfast (due to marijuana overdose). The Chief later apologized, half heartedly, but the level of rank incompetence is astonishing - he doesn't even know enough about the topic to spot satire, but he's happy to cage people for it anyway.

Meanwhile, suffering patients often can't even get a little bit of pain relief (without facing criminal charges).