FDA failed to ensure safe prescribing of opioids, documents show

Dec 31, 20190

Patrick Semansky – Associated Press count

Containers depicting OxyContin prescription pill bottles lie on the ground in front of the Department of Health and Human Services' headquarters in Washington as protesters demonstrate against the FDA's opioid prescription drug approval practices on April 5.

WASHINGTON – Newly unearthed documents show that the Food and Drug Administration failed to use its policing powers to make sure a program to curb improper prescribing of opioids was effective, researchers say.

The lax oversight, they point out, occurred as the epidemic was growing and tens of thousands of people were dying from overdoses each year.

http://www.startribune.com/fda-failed-to-ensure-safe-prescribing-of-opioids-documents-show/566582831/