Abuse-deterrent opioid benefit claims are hard to swallow, says report

Companies developing abuse-deterrent formulations (ADFs) opioids have touted the role that they could play in solving the addiction crisis gripping millions of families in the USA.

But an Institute of Clinical and Economic Review (ICER) report has questioned how much good they can do and recommends re-designating new opioid formulations as ‘tamper-resistant,’ for the simple reason that patients can still abuse them by swallowing more pills.

An earlier version of the report drew criticism from a patient group for understating the value of ADFs, but it has not stopped the Final Evidence Report, which contains evidence analyses and the results of voting by an independent appraisal committee, concluding that existing evidence is not adequate to demonstrate that ADFs are effective in reducing overall abuse of opioids at a population level.