OxyContin maker to reformulate drug

The maker of OxyContin hopes to reformulate the drug so it will be more resistant to abuse

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The maker of the powerful prescription pain medication OxyContin said Wednesday it is working on patent application for a new formula of the opiate-based drug, hoping to make it less susceptible to abuse and addiction.

The new formulation would make it "a lot more difficult to get a high" from OxyContin, said Robin Hogen, executive director of public affairs for Purdue Pharma of Norwalk, Connecticut. The painkiller has become a popular street drug, delivering an instant high when crushed or dissolved and ingested.

Hogen said the new drug would have to pass through clinical trials required by the Food and Drug Administration, which means it might be two to three years before it could be prescribed by doctors. Among the hurdles, Hogen said, are efficacy trials that would show how well the new formula handles pain relief.

"This is part of our corporate effort to stem the abuse," Hogen said. "Our number one priority is to find an abuse-resistant formulation which would give good pain relief and is almost abuse proof." The company gave no indication of plans to pull OxyContin from the market.

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OxyContin is an opiate-based prescription medicine taken as an oral, controlled-release tablet. It acts for 12 hours, making it the longest-acting pain reliever on the market. Others need to be taken every four to six hours.

Recent studies show that patients who take the drug as prescribed do not report a "high," making them less likely to become addicted abusers. Those who are abusing the drug by chewing it, or crushing and snorting the pill, are bypassing the time-release coating, getting the full effects of the opiate at once.

Several deaths have resulted from abuse of OxyContin -- sometimes called "hillbilly heroin" -- in Kentucky, Ohio, Virginia and West Virginia. Some states attorneys general are suing the manufacturers for costs related to addicts. Others are trying to limit the ability of doctors to prescribe the drug to Medicaid patients, whose prescriptions are paid for by the government.

The FDA recently issued its strongest possible warning for the painkiller, advising doctors to prescribe it only for severe pain and warning of the dangers of improper use.

CNN Correspondent Eileen O'Connor contributed to this report.