Elite Pharmaceuticals Inc (ELTP)

[Couch]

The Perfect Storm is brewing.....Eli 200 phase III trials beginning soon.

Deterring opioid abuse

http://m.fredericknewspost.com/opinion/letter_to_editor/deterring-opioid-abuse/article_72a9b6f4-4ffd-526a-a002-d82e9bd2c1cc.html?mode=jqm

Prescription opioid abuse is a real and serious problem, one that costs not only money, but lives. Approximately 15,000 people die every year in the U.S. from abuse of prescription painkillers, or about one person every 31 minutes. Those are staggering numbers. Furthermore, opioid abuse is estimated to cost this county $56 billion a year in health care, law enforcement and lost work productivity.

Addressing this complex issue will require state lawmakers to pursue a comprehensive and multifaceted response. Prescription opioids with abuse-deterrent formulations (ADF) are an essential part of this approach and will help reduce the societal and financial costs of prescription drug abuse. By making these drugs extremely difficult to crush, dissolve or melt, ADF make it challenging if not impossible to defeat the pills’ time-release feature.

Studies show these abuse-deterrent drugs work to curb abuse. In fact, one case showed a decrease of nearly two-thirds in the rate of abuse by snorting, smoking and injecting opioids. In another case, reports of fatal overdoses dropped nearly 90 percent.

In light of the promising success of abuse-deterrent prescription opioids, I have introduced House Bill 887 — Health Insurance — Abuse-Deterrent Opioid Analgesic Drug Products — Coverage, which would encourage the prescribing of ADFs when appropriate and to address the health insurance implications regarding coverage of these formulations. It is my belief that this bill will reduce access barriers for patients while preserving the patient/prescriber relationship by protecting patients from being forced to choose a lower-cost alternative without abuse-deterrent properties.

A U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration official recently hailed ADF as poised to “make a difference” and the way to stop abusers “from crushing and snorting or crushing and injecting. ... If we could figure out a way to get an abuse deterrent formulation across the board, then we’re going to see some significant results.”

It is my hope that HB 887 gets the ball rolling in that direction in Maryland.

Delegate Karen Lewis

Young

Frederick