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Friday, March 29, 2024

FDA Commissioner Asks Staff for ‘More Forceful Steps’ to Stem the Opioid Crisis

Scott Gottlieb, M.D.

As Commissioner, my highest initial priority is to take immediate steps to reduce the scope of the epidemic of opioid addiction. I believe the Food and Drug Administration continues to have an important role to play in addressing this crisis, particularly when it comes to reducing the number of new cases of addiction.

Today, I sent an email to all of my colleagues at FDA, sharing with them the first steps I plan to take to better achieve this public health goal. With this, my first post to the FDA Voice blog, I also wanted to share my plans with you.

I believe it is within the scope of FDA’s regulatory tools – and our societal obligations – to take whatever steps we can, under our existing legal authorities, to ensure that exposure to opioids is occurring under only appropriate clinical circumstances, and for appropriate patients.

Patients must be prescribed opioids only for durations of treatment that closely match their clinical circumstances and that don’t expose them unnecessarily to prolonged use, which increases the risk of opioid addiction. Moreover, as FDA does in other contexts in our regulatory portfolio, we need to consider the broader public health implications of opioid use. We need to consider both the individual and the societal consequences.

Read the entire blog at FDA Voice

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