The Ohio Bureau of Workers’ Comp has dropped Oxycontin in their formulary, replacing it with a safer alternative.

The switch will begin in July and Oxycontin will no longer be prescribed for injured workers. Instead the formulary has adopted Xtampza ER, which the BWC Chief Medical Officer Terry Walsh says is just as effective but harder to abuse than Oxycontin.

“Xtampza is a sustained-release form of oxycodone, like Oxycontin, but it utilizes a unique abuse-deterrent technology that makes it difficult to manipulate, crush, snort or inject for aberrant use,” he said. “Thanks to technology, this just seems like the next responsible step to protect our injured workers from potential addiction and overdose death to dangerous drugs.”

Xtampza ER was approved by the FDA in 2916 and is the second abuse-deterrent form of oxycodone on the market. Studies of abuse-deterrent formulas have shown mixed results in their effectiveness. They reduce abuse of oral opioids but may increase the number of people who transition to IV heroin.

Walsh said they are going to phase out Oxycontin and generic oxycodone sustained-release tablets. There are currently 1,057 workers in the BWC system taking those drugs.

The agency has taken other steps to try and combat opioid abuse in Ohio. They created a pharmacy and therapeutics committee, created a formulary and passed the Opioid Rule that holds prescribers accountable if they do not follow best practices. Opioid doses prescribed in the BWC system fell 66 percent between 2011 and 2018 because of these changes.

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