The Drug Enforcement Administration has ordered manufacturers to cut production of opiate and opioid medication by 25 percent or more in 2017, citing falling demand. Some medicines, like hydrocodone, will be cut as much as 34 percent.
The agency said demand for the opioid medicines, represented as prescriptions written by DEA-registered practitioners, had decreased, according to sales data from IMS Health, and amid growing concern over the abuse of prescription painkillers.
The DEA regulates the total amount of a controlled drug that can be produced each year, necess ...
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