Anti-addiction groups call for FDA head to step down over painkiller approval

In March, I warned you about how the FDA’s approval of the opioid painkiller Zohydro was bad news for everyone.

But especially for our veterans, whose death rate at VA hospitals was already twice the national average from Rx overdoses.

Just two Zohydro pills would be enough to kill. Which is why the FDA’s own advisory committee voted 11 to 2 against allowing it on the market.

But the FDA ignored that and approved it anyway. It refused to listen to all the health-care professionals and experts pleading that it will fuel a deadly increase in addiction, overdoses, and death.

FDA head Margaret Hamburg continues to defend the deadly drug, saying that while the agency knows how powerful it is, it fills “an important and unique niche.”

But seven months after this dangerous drug hit the market, the alarm bells have become deafening.

So much so that 15 anti-addiction groups are calling for Hamburg’s resignation.

“We are especially frustrated by the FDA’s continued approval of new, dangerous, high-dose opioid analgesics that are fueling high rates of addiction and overdose deaths,” they wrote in a letter to Hamburg’s boss, Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Burwell.

But even if Hamburg steps down or is forced out… and even if Zohydro is banned, it won’t change much.

Because all those other dangerous drugs are here to stay. That’s why it’s so critical that we uncover the truth about the drugs and the inner workings of the FDA. We can only rely on ourselves — no matter who’s in charge of the FDA.

Sources:
“Anti-addiction groups want FDA chief to resign” Associated Press, September 24, 2014, usatoday.com