FDA Reverses Decision on Opoid Availability

The American Pain Foundation has reported that the FDA has overturned its decision to ban the manufacture of 14 opoid analgesics by nine manufacturers.

This decision was released via conference call. You can listen to the call at 1-866-419-2678.

The actions were swift when the decision to ban the products came out. The FDA said that they were unaware of the unique needs of terminal patients and that they have immediately reinstated the manufacturing of 20 mg/ml morphine sulfate solution.

In the original decision, no representatives from hospice or palliative care organizations were included.

This particular omission is expected to be corrected in future summits.

The FDA said it was sorry for the disruption. They were not aware of the disruption in patient care the ruling would cause or that there was already a critical shortage in some lines of medications.

The FDA is interested of any drug shortages in your area including the management of patients. If there are any you can let them know by e-mailing them at drugshortages@fda.hhs.gov.

Reference: http://fda.com/