Dramatic Drop in Hydrocodone Combo Prescriptions After DEA Rescheduling
Does this mean that practitioners stopped writing HCP Rxs or Pharmacists stopped filling them.. Since they only counted Rxs filled ?
Prescriptions for hydrocodone combination products (HCPs) fell significantly after the US Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) tightened restrictions on those drugs, according to a study published Monday in JAMA Internal Medicine.
For years the US has been in the grips of a prescription drug abuse epidemic, in part driven by the availability of hydrocodone and other opioids such as oxycodone, codeine and methadone. In 2013, more than 200 million prescriptions for opioids were filled in the US, 136 million of which were for hydrocodone.
The opioid epidemic is also seeing increased attention in Congress. Last week, Sen. Edward Mackey (D-MA) placed a hold on the vote to nominate Robert Califf as US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Commissioner, and today, six senators wrote to the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) urging the agency to release its long-delayed opioid prescribing guidelines.
Rescheduling HCPs
When the Controlled Substances Act was enacted in 1971, drugs containing hydrocodone as the only active ingredient were listed on Schedule II, signifying a high potential for abuse, while HCPs were placed on the less restrictive Schedule III. Notably, prescriptions for Schedule II drugs cannot by refilled, unlike those for Schedule III drugs, which can be refilled for up to six months.
DEA first requested the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) provide it with a recommendation for rescheduling HCPs in 2004. In its response in 2008, HHS responded that HCPs should remain Schedule III drugs.
Under the 2012 Food and Drug Administration Safety and Innovation Act (FDASIA), the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) was instructed to hold a public meeting to gather input to inform its recommendation to DEA on scheduling HCPs.
In 2013, FDA convened its Drug Safety and Risk Management Advisory Committee (DSaRM) to discuss whether HCPs should be rescheduled. After two days of deliberation, the panel recommended HCPs be rescheduled in a 19-10 vote.
Then, on October 6 2014, following a notice of proposed rulemaking, which drew 573 comments, DEA rescheduled HCPs from Schedule III to Schedule II.
Effect of Rescheduling
To determine the effect rescheduling had on the number of prescriptions for HCPs, officials from HHS and FDA compared the number of prescriptions filled in the 36 months prior to the rescheduling to the 12 months after.
Prescriptions for liquid and tablet forms of HCPs declined 8.4% and 6.0%, respectively, over the 36 months prior to rescheduling.
However, after moving to Schedule II, prescriptions for liquid and tablet forms of HCPs dropped by 22% and 16%, respectively. According to the authors, 73.7% was due to the elimination of refills on these drugs.
The researchers also saw a slight increase in other opioid combination products corresponding with DEA’s action, though this was not enough to “substantially offset” the drop in HCP prescriptions.
Filed under: General Problems
I hope that it is taken into consideration, although I doubt it will, that the prescribers simply stopped prescribing the HCP’s because of the new, added liability they’d incur, because it became a major hassle and because of the added scrutiny that’s they find themselves under. The pharmacists are refusing to fill legitimate scripts for analogous reasons. Of course none of these reasons are acceptable when there is a genuine need and I suspect that there are quite a few folks out there who are suffering unnecessary pain as a result.
Good medical practice is being warped by fear, fear of an armed cadre that has the ability to destroy the livelihood and usurp the Freedom of a select group of professionals. What’s the point of going to school for eight to twelve years and all that entails, if ones decision making is called into question by a agency that requires only a high school diploma in order to get a job as an enforcer? I don’t blame them as who want’s to be scrutinized and be made to justify one’s therapeutic decisions to a group of folks that don’t know the first thing about assessing, diagnosing and treating the sick.
So much of the mindset that drives this War on Drugs reminds of of being in grade school. I recall situations, where because of the bad behavior of a handful of kids, an entire class or the entire student body would be “punished” by the prohibition of having a certain item on campus or the revocation of a certain activity. The majority did absolutely nothing wrong and yet everyone was made to suffer sanctions because of a few bad actors. I think because of these kinds of scenario that are still being played out on public school campuses across America, that people have been conditioned to accept this form of injustice as somehow being acceptable.
Drug dependant is not drug addicted