New FDA Chief Wants to Crack Down on Harder-to-Abuse Pain Drugs

The new head of the FDA is pledging a crackdown on painkiller abuse.

FOX’s Lisa Brady reports:

Fatal overdoses from both legal painkillers and illegal opioids, including heroin, hit 28,000 in 2014, a new record, ramping up government efforts to address the opiod crisis.

A week after his Senate confirmation, new FDA chief Robert Califf says his agency will do everything possible to prevent abuse, save lives, and treat dependence. And Calif says that includes supporting efforts to create painkillers that are harder to abuse like pills that are harder-to crush or virtually impossible to dissolve.

The FDA has already approved five abuse-deterrent drugs since 2010. Another step: more studies on the long-term safety of opiods that are long-acting used for chronic pain.

Lisa Brady, FOX News.