Right now, drug manufacturer Zogenix is marketing and selling its product Zohydro in the United States as an alternative to other pain medications like acetaminophen that can cause liver failure. It was approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in October 2013.
However, Zohydro, is extremely controversial and there are many experts out there that don’t think that this medication should be available to anyone – and that it should not be on the market because it’s just as dangerous as acetaminophen or opioids like hydrocodone in its own right.
What is Zohydro?
Zohydro is a pill that is designed to prevent pain. It is made of hydrocodone and it is designed as an extended-release drug. Zohydro is promoted to disperse hydrocodone over a 12 hour period through the human body. Other pills containing hydrocodone release it into the body all at once. This time-release factor, coupled with the lack of any acetaminophen bound into it, are the reasons that Zohydro is being touted as a superior pain medication where the liver will not be compromised.
Problem is that Zohydro is a very powerful pain pill. Zohydro is almost 10 times as strong as Vicodin.
It is easily crushed up for those who wish to get high using the drug. It is so powerful that someone on other medications, someone who is elderly or immune compromised, or a young child, could die from taking just ONE of these pills by mistake.
The United States Pain Medication Epidemic – Zohydro Is a Time Bomb Here
It is reported that the United States alone takes over 84% of the world’s oxycodone and more than 99% of the hydrocodone available globally. Still, Zyhydro has been approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and it is available for Americans to take right now. You can get Zohydro today.
In response, the State of Massachusetts has already taken steps to protect its citizens from the new drug. Its governor, Deval Patrick, tried to get Zohydro BANNED in Massachusetts but was unsuccessful after a federal judge overturned the ban on the basis that a state-wide ban of Zohydro overstepped state government authority on a federally okayed drug.
However, Governor Patrick did succeed somewhat, insofar as the federal judge is not finalizing her ruling until next week, giving Patrick time to modify his position on controlling how Zohydro is made available in Massachusetts. The Massachusetts Board of Registration in Medicine is also enacting state restrictions regarding monitoring prescriptions of Zohydro, etc.
Another twenty-nine (29) states have requested that the federal government (i.e., the FDA) reconsider allowing Zohydro to be out in the U.S. marketplace as their state attorneys general have formally requested that the FDA reverse its approval of Zohydro.
Meanwhile, there have been bills presented in Congress to ban Zohydro.
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If you or a loved one is hurt or killed from the drug Zohydro, then you may have a personal injury and product liability claim against the doctor that prescribed it, as well as others including the drug manufacturer. However, the better course is to avoid this dangerous pain medication. Remember, just because Zohydro is accepted by the FDA and it’s okay to prescribe by a physician, that does not mean that it’s safe and not dangerous.
