A few hours ago, Senator Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) submitted a bill demanding that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) rescind its approval of the painkiller Zohydro, which a growing coalition of critics believes could become the next Oxycontin in the epidemic of prescription painkiller addiction. The "Act to Ban Zohydro," as Manchin suggested calling it, offers a 13-point argument as to why the drug is simply too dangerous, the FDA's approval should be overturned.
What is Zohydro and why all the outcry? Zohydro ER is a potent extended release formulation of hydrocodone, the opiate that's the primary ingredient in Vicodin among other drugs.
The difference is that Zohydro is 10 times as strong as any other hydrocodone-based opiate painkiller available – critics contend that two pills could be fatal to someone without a high tolerance for opiates, and one pill could kill a child. If brought to market, it would be the only drug that uses hydrocodone alone to treat chronic pain.
Among Manchin and colleagues' main points:
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