April 16, 2013 - CLAAD’s executive director, Michael Barnes, issued the following statement today in response to the Food and Drug Administration’s decision not to allow generic drug makers to bring crushable OxyContin back to the market: “The Food and Drug Administration’s decision to keep non-abuse-deterrent, generic OxyContin off the market will help protect patients, families, and communities from the scourge of prescription drug abuse. We thank the FDA for doing the right thing and urge it to make a similarly smart decision to remove crushable, generic Opana from the market.” Full story.
April 5, 2013 - In a television interview on the San Diego Living morning program, CLAAD's executive director called for federal action to prevent non-abuse-deterrent opioids from coming back to the market. Video.
April 4, 2013 - American drug companies are leading the way in pain management, but their efforts have created a very dangerous byproduct: Painkiller addiction. In fact, more than 16,000 people die from overdosing on prescription pain pills each year. Two years ago, the makers of some of one of the most potent opioid painkillers on the market, OxyContin, voluntarily replaced their old formulation with non-crushable pills to make it impossible for addicts to snort or inject them. As a result, tampering and abuse of those drugs has decreased dramatically, in some cases, more than 70 percent. Now, with patents set to expire, generic versions of these drugs’ old formulations could be hitting the market as soon as April 16, 2013. Full story.
March 20, 2013 - The Stop Tampering of Prescription Pills (STOPP) Act would require opioid-based prescription drugs to include abuse-deterrent technologies that prevent substance users from crushing or dissolving prescription opioids so that they cannot be inhaled or injected to achieve an immediate high. Full story.
March 20, 2013 - While the FDA is still mulling over whether to pull the riskier formulations of prevalently abused drugs from the market, state legislators have started their own initiatives to prevent the ongoing abuse of non-abuse-deterrent medications. Full story.
March 18, 2013 - Preventing prescription-drug overdose deaths should be a national priority, and two measures that could help to reduce these tragedies -- the Prescription Drug Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act, and the Stop Tampering of Prescription Pills (STOPP) Act -- are an excellent way to start. Rahall-Barnes op-ed.
March 15, 2013 - A bipartisan group of lawmakers is urging the Food and Drug Administration to stop generic versions of powerful pain pills from coming on the market unless they are made with tamper-resistant formulas to discourage drug abuse. Full story.
March 15, 2013 - The Stop Tampering of Prescription Pills (STOPP) Act would require opioid-based prescription drugs to include technologies that prevent substance users from crushing or dissolving those medicines. Full story.
March 15, 2013 - A bill introduced in the House of Representatives would ban from circulation certain pharmaceuticals that could be easily abused. The proposed legislation is aimed at crushable variants of opioid pain medications. Full story.
March 15, 2013 - In a news conference on Capitol Hill today, CLAAD urged Members of Congress to pass the Stop the Tampering of Prescription Pills (STOPP) Act, H.R. 486, before the easy-to-abuse, old form of OxyContin flows back into communities on April 16. CLAAD remarks.
March 13, 2013 - On Friday, March 15, U.S. Reps. Bill Keating (MA-9) and Hal Rogers (KY-5) will formally announce their federal legislation to support the adoption of abuse-deterrent formulations of commonly abused opioid pain relievers. The Stop the Tampering of Prescription Pills (STOPP) Act would require the FDA to reject new drug applications for opioids if the same medication in an abuse-deterrent form had previously been approved and is still on the market. Michael Barnes, executive director of CLAAD, will discuss the need for the STOPP Act during the news conference. News release. STOPP Act summary.
February 1, 2013 - Last month, the Obama Administration, including the offices of the vice president and secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, decided to allow crushable forms of prescription drugs back into the market. The old forms of prescription drugs, which can be dissolved, crushed, or chewed, are typically associated with prescription dug overdose. Full story.
January 30, 2013 - During this presidential inauguration week, our nation reflects on President Barack Obama's first term and speculates as to how the president's second term will be distinct. It is unthinkable that the president and vice president might have abandoned for their second term the national priority of reeling in "obscene" profits, but shockingly, this appears to be the case. Barnes op-ed.
January 11, 2013 -- Less than a month after the White House warned of a potential influx of pain drugs from Canada that government officials say are easier for addicts to abuse, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved a similar pill for distribution nationwide. Full story.
January 9, 2013 – Washington, DC – Michael Barnes, Executive Director of the Center for Lawful Access and Abuse Deterrence (CLAAD) today released the statements in response to the Obama-Biden Administration’s issuance of draft guidance on the evaluation and labeling of abuse-deterrent opioid medications. News release.
December 14, 2012 - While the much-talked-about fiscal cliff could have dire consequences, they are "not as grave as the consequences of inaction over the next three weeks on this issue of powerful pain relievers coming to market without abuse-deterrent features," said Michael Barnes, executive director of the Center for Lawful Access and Abuse deterrence, or CLAAD. Barnes supports the STOPP Act, Stop Tampering of Prescription Pills, a bill introduced in Congress this summer by Rep. Bill Keating, D- Massachusetts, and Rep. Hal Rogers, R-Kentucky. STOPP would give the FDA authority to require medications with oxycodone and hydrocodone be made tamper-resistant. Full story.
December 12, 2012 - Some of the most powerful and widely abused painkillers are slated to hit the market as generics starting Jan. 1, an event that could reverse a significant advance in the battle against the prescription drug abuse epidemic, some legislators and activists say. Full story.
November 30, 2012 – Washington, DC – A group advocating for policies to mitigate drug diversion said they will continue to pressure FDA to block generic opioids based on older, non-abuse deterrent formulations of brand drugs, saying that otherwise the generic drug undermines the brands' impact on the rate of misuse and abuse. The advocates are throwing their support behind a bill that will be re-introduced in the next Congress and would require brand and generic opiods to be abuse deterrent. Full story.
November 27, 2012 – Washington, DC – At today's National Prescription Drug Abuse Prevention Policy Consensus Meeting, the not-for-profit Center for Lawful Access and Abuse Deterrence (CLAAD) announced the results of its national contest to identify the "Top 5 Technologies To Reduce Prescription Drug Abuse." News release.
November 27, 2012 – Washington, DC – The Center for Lawful Access and Abuse Deterrence (CLAAD) today honored Atlantic Pharmaceuticals' SMART/Script as one of its "Top 5 Technologies To Reduce Prescription Drug Abuse." News release.
November 27, 2012 – Washington, DC – The not-for-profit Center for Lawful Access and Abuse Deterrence (CLAAD) today announced that Eagle Advancement Institute has been named a "Top 5 Technologies To Reduce Prescription Drug Abuse" honoree for its Clarity Rapid Detox program focused on opioid addiction. News release.
November 27, 2012 – Washington, DC – The not-for-profit Center for Lawful Access and Abuse Deterrence (CLAAD) today recognized Egalet Ltd., a specialty pharmaceutical company focused on developing safe, effective, and tamper-resistant medications, as a Top Five Technologies To Reduce Prescription Drug Abuse honoree. News release.
November 27, 2012 – Washington, DC – The Center for Lawful Access and Abuse Deterrence (CLAAD) today honored The Locking Cap as one of its "Top 5 Technologies To Reduce Prescription Drug Abuse." News release.
November 27, 2012 – Washington, DC – The not-for-profit Center for Lawful Access and Abuse Deterrence (CLAAD) today announced that it has selected Pisgah Laboratories' abuse-deterrent technology platform as one of its Top 5 Technologies To Reduce Prescription Drug Abuse. News release.
November 16, 2012 - While presenting at the Delaware Prescription Drug Abuse Summit, CLAAD appealed to the event’s host, Attorney General Beau Biden, to work closely with his father, Vice President Joe Biden, to ensure that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) properly implements Obama-Biden policy supporting abuse-deterrent medications. News release.
November 12, 2012 - Powerful pain medications without added safety features are expected to flood back into communities as early as January 2013 unless the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) takes preventive action. “Parents, health care providers, and law enforcement must be prepared to confront the resurgence of more readily abused pain medications, and the overdoses that could follow,” CLAAD’s spokesman said. News release.
October 3, 2012 - Health professionals who are sufficiently trained in pain care are "few in number," according to a report published last year by the Institute of Medicine. Allowing more professionals without specific training to prescribe powerful opioid pain relievers would be "loosening the controls on these medications, when there needs to be a tightening," a CLAAD spokesman said in The Wall Street Journal. Full story.
September 24, 2102 – San Diego, CA - The WAKE UP! campaign uses scientific facts to demonstrate the permanent biological changes that can occur in the brain and body with prescription drug abuse. WAKE UP! deploys a “takeover” approach by providing a massive on-campus presence utilizing graphics, multi-media, curriculum, social media, creative expression contests, and interactive events. News release.
September 17, 2012 - Washington, DC – Today, CLAAD announced a national contest to identify the "Top 5 Technologies To Reduce Prescription Drug Abuse." The competition aims to increase public awareness of the U.S. prescription drug abuse epidemic, and to support private-sector efforts to address the problem. The National Prescription Drug Abuse Prevention Strategy identifies the adoption of new technologies as an essential component of prescription drug abuse prevention policy. News release.
July 19, 2012 - U.S. Reps. William Keating (MA-10), Mary Bono Mack (CA-45), Hal Rogers (KY-5), and Stephen Lynch (MA-9) have proposed a bill that would require opioid manufacturers to utilize abuse-deterrent technologies to prevent certain forms of intentional abuse of their products. The Stop Tampering of Prescription Pills Act of 2012 (STOPP Act) would give the Food and Drug Administration the authority to remove traditional opioid pain relievers from the market after abuse-deterrent versions of them are approved. Full article. At a congressional news conference at the U.S. Capitol, CLAAD spokesman Michael Barnes urged legislators to pass the STOPP Act by year’s end. Video of CLAAD’s Remarks. U.S. Reps. Keating, Bono Mack, and Nick Rahall (WV-3) also spoke in favor of the bill, as did Gen. Arthur Dean of Community Anti-Drug Coalitions of America and Cynthia Moreno Tuohy of NAADAC, The Association for Addiction Professionals. News release.
July 9, 2012 - In The Wall Street Journal, a CLAAD spokesman says federal prescription drug abuse prevention efforts must go farther. The Food and Drug Administration today announced a voluntary professional education program to improve controlled substance prescribing. CLAAD’s National Prescription Drug Abuse Prevention Strategy calls for mandatory prescriber education. National leaders in prescription drug abuse prevention and pain care will meet on November 27 in Washington, DC, to coordinate efforts to enact mandatory prescriber education and other National Strategy action items. WSJ article.
Company To Serve as Nonprofit’s Liaison to Medication Monitoring and Drug Testing Industry
May 15, 2012 – Washington, DC
The not-for-profit Center for Lawful Access and Abuse Deterrence (CLAAD) has named San Diego-based Millennium Laboratories Inc. the organization’s exclusive representative of the medication monitoring and drug testing industry. Millennium joins a diverse coalition of health care providers, law enforcement, parents, teachers, community organizations, and businesses working together to prevent prescription drug abuse while optimizing patient care. News release.
April 13, 2012
At the National Rx Drug Abuse Summit this week, executives from multinational and domestic health care companies met to discuss their efforts to develop market-based solutions to the U.S. prescription drug epidemic. The private-sector meeting took place as federal officials called for industry to develop safer medications and government to be more attentive to the nation’s fastest growing drug problem. News release.
March 22, 2012
Market-based solutions are essential elements of any viable prescription drug abuse prevention plan. On Wednesday, April 11, 2012, CLAAD will host a policy meeting with commercial entities to discuss their role in preventing prescription drug abuse. The meeting will be a first step toward greater resource-sharing and collaboration among multiple stakeholders. Full story.
January 17, 2012
Today, a national coalition dedicated to reducing prescription drug abuse recognized Los Angeles County Deputy District Attorneys David Walgren and Deborah Brazil for their excellence in the prosecution of Dr. Conrad Murray. A jury unanimously found Murray guilty last November of involuntary manslaughter for causing the 2009 death of pop star Michael Jackson. News release.
November 10, 2011
A national alliance of families, medical professionals, law enforcement, and drug abuse prevention advocates has urged the public to turn off their TVs this Friday at 10 p.m. Eastern Time. The call for action comes in response to MSNBC’s plan to air a documentary featuring the doctor found guilty for the homicide death of Michael Jackson. News release.
September 10, 2011
The trial of Michael Jackson’s doctor will expose systematic failures of the US health care system. A bill currently before Congress could help improve patient care and prevent overdoses of controlled substances. Full editorial.
September 9, 2011
When it comes to research on promising new classes of pain therapies, the agency must weigh its understandable caution regarding safety concerns against the unmet needs of millions of patients suffering with pain. Full editorial.
May 27, 2011
CLAAD highlights a recent study that indicates only a small percentage (8%) of patients are screened by their doctor before and while taking a prescription for opioid pain relievers. News release.
May 7, 2011
In a television interview broadcast to more than 220 million households in more than 100 countries, a CLAAD spokesperson called for insurance companies to “take steps that will prevent people from being able to obtain insurance benefits to go ‘doctor shopping’”. News release. Video.
April 20, 2011
San Diego’s LaDona Harvey asks whether ONDCP’s National Prescription Drug Abuse Action Plan adequately preserves patient access to medications.
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February 27, 2011
CLAAD board member Andrea G. Barthwell, M.D., discusses the need to preserve public funding for addiction treatment programs on Fox News Channel’s Fox & Friends. Pat Quinn, Governor of Illinois, recently proposed cutting $208 million in state funding for addiction treatment. Responding to public outrage, Quinn’s budget office now says addiction programs will be cut only $100 million. Deeper cuts are still likely to take effect this summer. CLAAD on Fox News. Full story on Illinois budget cuts.
December 31, 2010
WTVN's Bob Conners discusses why so many Americans have a problem with prescription drug abuse (Columbus, OH).
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December 31, 2010
Labor Radio’s Ed "Flash" Ferenc discusses CLAAD’s priorities for preventing prescription drug abuse while ensuring adequate patient care.
November 7, 2010
Bob Salter On WFAN 660 AM in New York discusses prescription medication addiction and abuse.
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September 25, 2010
Members of the Ohio Prescription Drug Abuse Task Force are clear about the report they will submit to the state next week - it's not legislation. Read more (PDF).
September 23, 2010
WVLK News Talk 590’s Jack Pattie discusses the results of the most recent National Survey on Drug Use and Health.
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September 17, 2010
Dave Lucas discusses the need for pharmaceutical companies to take greater responsibility for the abuse of their products on News Talk with Bruce DePuyt (DC-MD-VA).
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September 16, 2010
WBOY TV’s Susan Sullivan reports on CLAAD’s national strategy to prevent prescription drug abuse (WV). Full story.
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September 09, 2010 - Parents and teachers need to know the warning signs of prescription drug abuse as students from elementary schools to universities go back to school this month. But they are not the only ones who must take action to address prescription drug abuse, according to a national alliance of families, medical professionals, law enforcement, and drug abuse prevention advocates. Read more (PDF).
August 24, 2010 - As celebrity tragedies involving prescription medications continue to make headlines, a national alliance of families, medical professionals, law enforcement, and drug abuse prevention advocates today released a national strategy to counter the disturbing rise in prescription drug abuse. Read more (PDF).
March 24, 2010 - The Center for Lawful Access and Abuse Deterrence (CLAAD) on March 24 called for improvements in drug labeling to enable prescribers to learn about new medications introducing impediments to abuse. CLAAD asked Congress and the FDA to implement a more descriptive labeling convention that would summarize abuse liability data from laboratory and human studies. CLAAD Letter to Congress on Labeling of Medications Introducing Impediments to Abuse.
October 27, 2009 - The Center for Lawful Access and Abuse Deterrence (CLAAD) and the National Family Partnership (NFP) sponsored a Capitol Hill briefing from 4 to 5 p.m. on October 27 to inform Congress and the public of innovative technologies to prevent prescription drug abuse. Rep. Patrick Kennedy (RI-01); Rep. Mary Bono-Mack (CA-45); Rep. Carol Shea-Porter (NH-01); Rep. John Sullivan (OK-01); and the Addiction, Treatment, and Recovery Caucus served as the briefing’s Congressional sponsors. Full story.
