Before we start celebrating, Purdue is replacing it with another oxycodone formulation:
Oxycodone is rapidly released when OxyContin tablets are chewed, crushed and then inhaled, injected or swallowed. This results in a heroin-like euphoria, with potentially lethal consequences. OxyNEO tablets are physically much harder than OxyContin, making them more difficult to crush or break. When mixed with water, OxyNEO tablets form a highly viscous (gel-like) matrix, which makes it difficult to extract oxycodone for injection purposes.
In the addiction treatment community, people are placing bets on how soon DIY chemists will crack that one.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/newfoundland-labrador/story/2011/11/07/nl-...
On a pharmacist's site (can't link, behind a firewall; sorry!) there's this:
What’s particularly interesting about the release of this new, ‘safer’ product is that OxyContin is just about to come off patent, so the company is positioning itself to avoid having its product deemed interchangeable with lower cost alternatives that will be brought to market once OxyContin loses its exclusive patent.
Pharmacists are such cynics