Outgoing FDA chief tells companies to develop pain drugs that replace opioids

By PharmaCompass

2019-04-04

Impressions: 85 Article

Scott Gottlieb, the outgoing commissioner of the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), who will be handing over the baton to Ned Sharpless (currently the director of the National Cancer Institute) on Friday, has laid out a vision for replacing opioids that have been blamed for sparking an overdose epidemic.

In one of his farewell interviews, the revered FDA chief said “companies should have to prove that any new opioids work better or are safer than current painkillers”.

Gottlieb said he wants companies to develop pain drugs that could eventually allow older opioids to be restricted or to come off the market entirely.

“Given the public health crisis we face, and that American families are still being destroyed by the opioids epidemic, I believe that the FDA should treat opioids, as a class, differently from other drugs,” Gottlieb told a Senate appropriations subcommittee last week.

“More appropriate prescribing can reduce the rate of new addiction and mitigate the serious, and sometimes deadly, risks associated with opioids,” Gottlieb said in a statement.

In various interviews, he discussed opioids, pain drugs, electronic cigarettes and his successful tenure at the agency while also reflecting on his job, which he termed as “the best job he could ever have”. Regarding the controversial topic of drug pricing, Gottlieb said he’ll have “more to say” once he leaves the FDA.

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“ The article is based on the information available in public and which the author believes to be true. The author is not disseminating any information, which the author believes or knows, is confidential or in conflict with the privacy of any person. The views expressed or information supplied through this article is mere opinion and observation of the author. The author does not intend to defame, insult or, cause loss or damage to anyone, in any manner, through this article.”

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