Pubdate: Sun, 16 Jan 2005 Source: Eagle-Tribune, The (MA) Copyright: 2005 The Eagle-Tribune Contact: http://www.eagletribune.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/129 Referenced: Index -- Special On Opiate Use (Eagle-Tribune) -- http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v05/n042/a06.html CARING PARENTS MORE POTENT THAN SMARTEST PILL Sad really, that it's come to this, but Purdue Pharma, the Connecticut firm that manufactures OxyContin, is spending $200 million in an attempt to develop a "smart pill" that would prevent its pain medication from being used illegally. The illegal use of the powerful prescription painkiller has become a public relations and legal nightmare for the firm, which, according to their representatives, is throwing all available resources at thwarting potential abusers. Those efforts, company officials told Eagle-Tribune editors last week, include communitywide drug awareness programs, physician education campaigns, cooperation with law enforcement personnel, high-tech caps that would allow authorities to trace individual bottles of the medicine, and research into new ways of administering the medication. The so-called "smart pill" would allow the medicine to retain its effectiveness if taken as prescribed, but contain a chemical which, if the pill were to be crushed into a powder -- which is the way abusers prefer it in order to get the maximum dosage in a minimum amount of time -- would render the drug inert. Of course we liked best the solution suggested by Clay Yeager, the director of community partnerships for Purdue, who said he was inspired by a comment by the late Mother Teresa. Noting that unlike too many children in Third World countries who experience malnutrition due to lack of food, she had observed that American children seem to suffer from "malnutrition of the heart." What's needed more than new formulas or public relations campaigns, Yeager said, are parents who care and won't give up on their children. - --- MAP posted-by: Beth