Officials from five physician and public health organizations sent a letter to the Food and Drug Administration Aug. 31, petitioning the agency to remove ultra-high-dosage unit opioids from the market, according to report from CNN.
The petition asks the FDA to remove OxyContin 80mg and oxycodone 30mg from the market. When these medicines are taken at typically prescribed levels — twice daily for OxyContin and four times daily for oxycodone — the medications exceed the CDC's 90 milligrams of morphine recommended daily dosage limitation.
"In 2015, 11.5 million Americans are estimated to have misused prescription opioids," wrote the organizations in the petition. "A friend or family member lacking a tolerance to opioids who borrows a single dose of an UHDU opioid for pain relief could experience life-threatening respiratory depression. An overdose could also occur in the opioid-tolerant patient who accidentally takes just one extra dose or who intentionally takes an extra dose for unrelieved pain."
Leaders from five organizations signed the petition, including the National Safety Council, Physicians for Responsible Opioid Prescribing and the American College of Medical Toxicology.
To read the full letter, click here.
To read the full report from CNN, click here.
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