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Majority of Oxycodone Overdoses Traced Back to Drug Combinations

By Lindsay F. Wiley [Bio]

March 10, 2003 - A new study shows that the vast majority of oxycodone overdose deaths involve some combination of other drugs. The study may undermine the statistics compiled by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration and released last year, which list OxyContin as the cause of 146 overdose deaths and the "likely" cause of another 318 deaths.

Researchers studied the medical examiners' records of 1,243 oxycodone-related cases from 23 states during the period from August 1999 to January 2002. Twelve of the overdose deaths were traced to OxyContin alone and an additional 18 were caused by oxycodone, the active ingredient in OxyContin and other medications. In the remaining cases, the deceased had at least three other drugs in his or her system, including benzodiazepines, antidepressants, alcohol, cocaine, marijuana, and other narcotics.

The study was published in the March issue of the Journal of Analytical Toxicology and was funded by Purdue Pharma, the producer of OxyContin.