Between 1996 and 2005 the use of antidepressants among Americans has doubled. By 2005 there were approximately 27 million people with prescriptions for antidepressant pharmaceuticals. A leading drug research firm recently reported that more than 164 million prescriptions were written in 2008 for antidepressants, totaling $9.6 billion in U.S. sales. A series of clinical trials in 2003 showed that antidepressants increased the risk of suicidal thoughts and behaviors in children and teens. After the 2003 study public health warnings on use of antidepressant drugs began to appear. Dr. Mark Olfson of Columbia University and Steven Marcus of the University of Pennsylvania wrote in the Archives of General Psychiatry that "Not only are more U.S. residents being treated with antidepressants, but also those who are being treated are receiving more antidepressant prescriptions."
The FDA recently voted in favor of pushing a new formulation of oxycodone hydrochloride for approval. The new OxyContin formula is more difficult to crush or dissolve which will hopefully make it harder to be used as a drug of abuse . The FDA recommended that Purdue Pharma's application for a new, resin-coated formulation should replace the original version, which has been on the market since 1996. Randall Flick, MD, an anesthesiologist at the Mayo Clinic who voted to recommend approval of the drug said, "Clearly the old formulation is worse than the new, although I think the difference is relatively small," Flick concluded, "Hardcore abusers are likely to devise new ways to break down the harder tablet or figure out which solvents will dissolve it fastest, within 'day or weeks' of the product's release on the market."