FDA Okays morphine based drug for pain management

By Rachel Stockton (rachels@foodconsumer.org)

The FDA has approved a drug manufactured by King Pharmaceuticals for moderate to severe pain. Embeda, which contains morpine, is drug resistant because it also consists of naltrexone, which cancels out the morphine high that abusers are after.

Embeda the is incapable of being abused if the patient chews it; chewing up pills is standard procedure for prescription drug abusers, as it quickly releases the narcotic the abuser is after. Naltrexone is not digested easily, but can be effortlessly released if the patient tries to cut to the chase and abuse the morphine the drug contains.

King conducted 12 clinical studies in an effort to prove its efficacy and safety; on its website, the company verifies that Embeda is safe for up to 12 months.

The drug is specifically designed for those patients for whom other pain medications are inadequate. The special coating that each dose has radically reduces its abuse potential.

King Pharmaceuticals is also known for the development and manufacture of pharmaceutical medication for food producing animals.

As for as Embeda is concerned, the company makes the following statement on its website: "We believe that we could be well positioned to treat a wide range of patients with products designed to address this important societal issue [prescription drug abuse]."

The company, however, does not claim that the drug cannot be abused. In fact, they issue a warning statement in this regard that says it can be abused like any other narcotic pain killer. What it thwarts is the quick high that veteran abusers are looking for, making abuse "somewhat difficult."