Open AccessCommentary

doi:10.4172/2153-2435.1000317 Copyright: © 2014 Cone EJ, et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. The problem of prescription drug abuse in the United States began more than 100 years ago and became epidemic in the last decade producing many tragic consequences with incredible societal costs. Drug overdoses have doubled over the last 10 years and now surpass deaths from motor vehicle accidents (DHHS, 2013). Congress reacted to this ongoing tragedy in 2012 by mandating the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) promulgate guidelines for the development of abuse-deterrent formulations (ADFs) for prescription opioid medications as one of the approaches to reducing this problem.The FDA responded in 2013 by issuing a draft guidance to industry for assessment of ADFs (FDA, 2013). The 2013 guidance expanded initial guidance proposed in 2010 (FDA, 2010).FDA is expected to issue final guidance for industry in the latter part of 2014