Prescription pill abuse ranks second only to marijuana in the United States as the most prevalent category of drug abuse, according to the Dept. of Health and Human Services.

Two relatively recent entrants into the war on pill-popping are Acura Pharmaceuticals (Nasdaq:ACUR) and Columbia Laboratories (Nasdaq:CBRX), which both specialize in abuse deterrent technology for prescription drugs.

Acura Pharmaceuticals develops drug candidates based on its Aversion technology drug delivery platform. Aversion technology is designed to prevent the misuse of commonly prescribed painkillers such as oxycodone, morphine and codeine. In addition to active pain-killing ingredients, Aversion technology-treated drugs contain proprietary active and inactive ingredients that discourage users from intravenous injecting of dissolved tablets, snorting crushed tablets and/or intentionally swallowing excess numbers of tablets. The added ingredients cause the dissolved or crushed tablets to form a viscous gel, trapping the opiate inside and preventing the user from getting high; if the user attempts to ingest an excess quantity of tablets, he or she will experience unpleasant side-effects such as flushing, itching, sweating and/or chills.

The potential market for Aversion technology is enormous. Approximately 235 million opiate prescriptions are dispensed each year in the United States and physicians estimate that nearly one in six prescriptions is abused. Well-known opiate . . .

For access to the full article, you must be a registered member - it's FREE.