Two members of our team - Dr. Gregory Curfman and Professor Leo Beletsky - and friend of PHLW Ameet Sarpatwari have an important new piece out in JAMA Internal Medicine entitled "Benefits, Limitations, and Value of Abuse Deterrent Opioids." "Abuse deterrent opioids" are formulations of the drugs meant to be tamper-resistant, "intended to make manipulation more difficult or to make abuse of the manipulated product less attractive or less rewarding." Looking at the Institute for Clinical and Economic Review report on Abuse-Deterrent Formulations of Opioids: Effectiveness and Value and adding independent analysis, the authors found that the selective use of abuse deterrent opioids may mitigate opioid abuse and diversion. However, the use may also promote switching to more dangerous opioids (like heroin). Finally, they found no evidence that abuse deterrent opioid use reduces overdose deaths.
Read the entire article here.