The Center for Lawful Access and Abuse Deterrence (CLAAD) is a national non-profit dedicated to reducing prescription drug abuse while protecting patient access to care. I am Mike Barnes, executive director of CLAAD.

Pharmaceutical companies must take responsibility for the safety of their products. That’s what the STOPP Act is about. It really is that simple.

Some companies have heeded the public’s call to improve their products’ safety. They voluntarily removed their pain pills from the market and replaced them with new versions designed to thwart common forms of abuse.

In transitioning to tamper-resistant medications, drug companies have slashed their products’ rates of abuse. Tampering and abuse have decreased by 71 percent in the case of one medication and 59 percent for another.

These new, abuse-deterrent products cost no more to consumers than their prior formulations.

Our progress is in jeopardy.

In January, the FDA granted approval for a traditional, more readily abused opioid formula to come back to the market in cheaper, generic form. Anecdotal evidence from law enforcement indicates that abuse of the non-abuse-deterrent product is already severe.

If Congress does nothing, the old, abuse-friendly variety of oxycodone can be expected to reach our communities as early as April 16. That’s just one month away.

And that’s why we need the STOPP Act, now.

The STOPP Act will prohibit any old-formula opioid from entering the market if the FDA has approved an abuse-deterrent version of the therapy. It codifies industry’s moral obligation to make its products safer. This bill is better than bi-partisan. It is non-partisan.

Generic drug makers will have you believe that passing this bill will keep generic drugs off the market. That is not the case. Passing this bill will keep easily abused medications off the market.

Generic makers may create their own abuse deterrents or license tamper-resistant delivery mechanisms from other drug companies.

Industry has already shown that it is possible to make pills safer without significantly increasing prices.

Approving easy-to-abuse drugs when abuse-deterrent versions of them are already available will annihilate the budding market for innovative, safer medications. The consequences for families and communities will also be fatal.

The STOPP Act provides for a shift in the market in favor of safer medications – both brand and generic. Members of Congress, we urge you to pass the STOPP Act before the easy-to-abuse oxycodone flows back into our communities on April 16.

Thank you.