Rep. Vern Buchanan (R-Fla.) recently praised the FDA’s recommendation for tighter controls on prescription painkillers with the active ingredient hydrocodone.
The change in the FDA’s recommendation follows legislation that Buchanan introduced seeking to reschedule hydrocodone combination drugs from a schedule III drug to a schedule II drug, which would make them more difficult to prescribe and obtain.
The FDA plans to submit its formal recommendation package to reschedule such products as schedule II to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services by early December.
“Too many of our loved ones are dying every day from prescription drug overdoses and are abusing hydrocodone painkillers for non-medical purposes,” Buchanan, the House sponsor of the Safe Prescribing Act of 2013, H.R. 1285, said. “Today’s announcement could go a long way towards combating an epidemic that wreaks havoc on countless families and communities across our nation. I urge HHS to immediately accept and implement the FDA’s recommendation.”
Buchanan and Sen. Edward Markey (D-Mass.) wrote to FDA Commissioner Margaret Hamburg in February, calling on the agency to immediately adopt an expert advisory panel’s 19-10 vote to place new restrictions on narcotic painkillers containing hyrdocodone.
“We urge you to accept your board’s recommendation in the name of every family who has endured the horrors of prescription drug abuse,” the letter said.
Buchanan’s Safe Prescribing Act has been co-sponsored by more than 50 bipartisan members of Congress, including five distinguished committee chairmen.