Hepatitis C cases spiked after Oxycontin reformulated to deter opioid abuse

Modern Healthcare: New research finds one of the most successful moves to reduce the risk of prescription opioid abuse may have inadvertently led to a spike in hepatitis C infections, and potentially, healthcare costs.

The rate of hepatitis C infection in the U.S. had been relatively stagnant before 2010, according to a study published Monday in Health Affairs, even as the rate of death from prescription opioid overdose rose. That year, makers of the pain-reliever OxyContin changed the drug formula to make it less addictive.

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