Purdue Pharma, makers of the painkiller OxyContin, are going to seek U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval to label it for use by children as young as 6.
Oxycontin earned them $2.8 billion last year but drug companies have a tiny window in which they can make any money so they are always looking for creative ways to extend that. Even a 6-month extension is a billion bucks so Purdue is putting together a pediatric trial which will involve 154 children ages 6 to 16 that would finish in August, 2013.
Obviously for children in pain the ability of doctors to go 'off-label' is a good thing, but this isn't just about the kids. And the data on what an opiod could do to a very young brain basically does not exist.
PAINKILLERS FOR KIDS by Karen Keller, The Daily.com
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