Pisgah Labs files its eighth patent application for technology to prevent prescription drug abuse

Jan 13 2010

According to the Office of National Drug Control Policy (http://www.whitehousedrugpolicy.gov), prescription drug abuse is more prevalent than abuse of cocaine, heroin and methamphetamine. In fact, in the past year, prescription drug abuse ranked second only to marijuana use. In the face of this growing problem, Pisgah Labs, Inc. (http://www.pisgahlabs.com) has just filed its eighth patent application on a technology that promises to curb prescription drug abuse.

While large pharmaceutical companies have been unable to stop abuse of their prescription drugs -- particularly opiate-based drugs -- Pisgah Labs has been quietly working behind the scenes to create an anti-abuse chemical methodology that will work with the pain medications most often abused in the U.S. Now, with its eighth patent application filed on the technology, Pisgah Labs is working on receiving FDA approval to conduct clinical trials on the anti-abuse technology -- the company's first offering in a lengthy product pipeline. The goal: to demonstrate the technology will interrupt and prevent drug abuse throughout the supply chain.

In developing its technology, Pisgah Labs focused on the six basic factors it says are necessary to reduce drug abuse. That focus paid off: The company's research and development has yielded a tamper-proof technology capable of containing multiple mechanisms to inhibit abuse. With the technology, the active ingredient in a prescription drug cannot be easily or cheaply extracted. The anti-abuse properties are not defeated by chewing, grinding or otherwise physically manipulating the prescription drug. What's more, when combined with Pisgah Labs' anti-abuse technology, a drug's active ingredient release rate is unaffected by alcohol consumption, rendering abusers unable to "dose dump" on demand by consuming alcohol in conjunction with the drug. The technology even has a built-in track-and-trace feature. But perhaps most importantly, while allowing a prescription drug to work as intended when taken as directed, Pisgah Labs' anti-abuse technology causes the drug to not work at all when abused.  

"In general, routes of abuse administration start with the ability to defeat the modified release properties the drug product contains or to circumvent the chemical and mechanical barriers intentionally designed into the product," explained Bill Bristol, president and CEO of Pisgah Labs. "Pisgah's platform technology addresses the drug abuse issue at the active ingredient level, which is then formulated into the actual dosage medication as a tablet or capsule. In this manner, the principle anti-abuse property starts at the molecular level with the active ingredient. Formulation can then provide additional defensive barriers to abuse."

In other words, if Pisgah Labs has anything to say about it, it won't be long before prescription drug abuse is on a steep decline. Though it still has to demonstrate clinical results to the FDA, the company is confident its patent-pending anti-abuse technology is up for the challenge. To learn more, visit http://www.pisgahlabs.com.