NSU Horizons Fall 2017

29 NSU HORIZONS oral pills, for example, these include chewing before swallowing, crushing into powder for snorting, extracting the drug for injection, or swallowing with alcohol. “Since abusers do not follow a standard protocol and use a wide range of unconventional ways to get to the opioid, no single technology can promise full deterrence to abuse,” said Omidian, a professor at the College of Pharmacy. “Studies show that abusers can [often] defeat the abuse-deterrent properties of most products approved by the Food and Drug Administration.” The technologies developed by Omidian’s research team are based on pharmaceutical excipients and polymers that only work when the opioid formulation is manipulated by abusers for snorting, injecting, and oral ingestion. Today, abuse-deterrent measures are mostly available in extended-release pain medications—typically those prescribed to critically ill patients and effective for about 8 to 12 hours. The majority of short-term pain medica- tions, however, do not include abuse-deterrent measures. The abuse-deterrent technology being developed at NSU can be applied to both immediate and sustained-release drug formulations and at any drug concentration. “The next step is to find an industry partner for licensing,” Omidian said. “My lab is developing technologies for licensing to drug manufacturers or other companies. Their job is to use our technologies in their products and submit them to the FDA for approval.” David Mastropietro, Ph.D., assistant professor at the College of Pharmacy and part of the research team, said abuse-deterrent medications have “helped apply the brakes to what was a fast and out- of-control rise in opioid abuse.” DETER ABUSE “We must be mindful that these medications can only ‘deter’ abuse and, therefore, must be used as part of a larger plan. Since the main source of misused prescriptions is often family and friends for whom they were legitimately prescribed, abuse-deterrent medications can potentially deter those seeking to abuse opioids,” Mastropietro said. Srinath Muppalaneni, Ph.D., a 2016 alumnus of the college and now a senior formulation scientist at Sancilio & Co., said further research is needed to develop abuse- deterrent medications that could address “multiple routes of abuse.” “I am proud to be a part of this group fighting the global epidemic,” Muppalaneni said. “As prevention is better than a cure, more research should be conducted and researchers should be encouraged [through the] offering of funds and grants.” “I’m confident that our technologies will soon be used in the next generation of abuse-deterrent formulation products,” said Rand Ahmad, a doctoral student at the college who is part of the research team. n Hossein (Hamid) Omidian and his team are developing tamper-resistant tablets that will deter pain medication abuse.