--- description: The FDA has been under growing pressure to fight the national epidemic of prescription opioid abuse title: FDA Approves New Pain Reliever Designed to Be Hard to Abuse image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5b21b13ab470195a/69869d24f983e7e11704efa8/oxy-1280x720.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Health](/section/health/) ## Health Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [Drugs](/tag/drugs/) ## Drugs Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # FDA Approves New Pain Pill Designed To Be Hard to Abuse by [TIME Video](/author/time-video/) ## TIME Video Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jul 24, 2014 9:30 PM CUT  by [TIME Video](/author/time-video/) ## TIME Video Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jul 24, 2014 9:30 PM CUT The Food and Drug Administration approved on Wednesday a new pain pill that was created to discourage abuse, [the Associated Press reports.](http://abcnews.go.com/Business/wireStory/fda-approves-painkiller-oxycontin-maker-24686521 "undefined") The new pill, Targiniq ER, combines oxycodone, a potentially addictive opioid used in many pain medications, with naloxone, often used to trim the effects of opioids. The naloxone isn’t activated if the pill is swallowed as normal. If a would-be drug abuser crushes the pill to snort or inject it, however, the naloxone activates. That can potentially make Targiniq ER less attractive to abusers. “Targiniq ER has properties that are expected to deter, but not totally prevent, abuse of the drug by snorting and injection,” [FDA said in a statement.](http://www.fda.gov/NewsEvents/Newsroom/PressAnnouncements/ucm406407.htm "undefined") ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3031100/fda-pain-bill-targiniq-er/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3031100/fda-pain-bill-targiniq-er/"},"headline":"FDA Approves New Pain Pill Designed To Be Hard to Abuse","datePublished":"2014-07-24T21:30:37.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T09:20:25.965Z","description":"The FDA has been under growing pressure to fight the national epidemic of prescription opioid abuse","url":"https://time.com/3031100/fda-pain-bill-targiniq-er/","keywords":["Drugs","Pain","Food and Drug Administration"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5b21b13ab470195a/69869d24f983e7e11704efa8/oxy-1280x720.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"TIME Video","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/time-video/"}],"articleSection":"Health","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5b21b13ab470195a/69869d24f983e7e11704efa8/oxy-1280x720.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Oxy 1280X720","caption":"","creditText":"","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/health/","name":"Health"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/drugs/","name":"Drugs"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3031100/fda-pain-bill-targiniq-er/","name":"FDA Approves New Pain Pill Designed To Be Hard to Abuse"}}]}] ```