FDA defends controversial painkiller Zohydro

The Food and Drug Administration is defending the highly controversial new painkiller Zohydro and their decision to approve it. Zohydro is the first painkiller that is pure hydrocodone to be approved by the FDA.

Since the drug’s approval in December lawmakers have been fighting it. Because hydrocodone is such a highly abused drug people question the need for it in pure form.

Fearing the drug will be severely abused Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W. Va., created a bill to force the FDA to withdraw the drug. According to the AssociatedPress Manchin said, “Because of this painkiller’s high potential for misuse and abuse, Zohydro poses a severely dangerous threat to our communities in West Virginia and across our country.”

The FDA’s chief Dr. Margaret Hamburg defends the decision to approve the drug stating that is has unique qualities that make it a legitimate and necessary painkiller. According to Drug Discovery and Development Hamburg said the drug Zohydro gives users a "single hydrocodone product without that associated liver toxicity risk."