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# FDA Analyses Help Guide Opioid Policy: Gottlieb
- URL: https://www.fdaweb.com/fda-analyses-help-guide-opioid-policy-gottlieb/
- Published: 2018-03-22T12:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-09-14T23:54:51.000Z
- Author: David McFarland
- Tags: Drugs, #legacy-id-D5141043

FDA commissioner **Scott Gottlieb** says the agency is analyzing opioid analgesic dispensing and refill patterns by medical indication and provider specialty and obtaining important insight into the amount of opioid analgesic that patients appear to need to control acute pain by medical indication. In 3/21 [testimony](https://www.fda.gov/NewsEvents/Testimony/ucm601936.htm?ref=fdaweb.com) before the House Energy and Commerce Committee’s Health Subcommittee, Gottlieb said such analyses are “important applications of the resources dedicated to our post-market safety efforts, including use of the Sentinel database to answer questions to inform regulatory policy…. Resources dedicated to more routine analyses of this kind could allow us to more carefully tailor our policy efforts to avoid, although not eliminate, the risk that we create some unintended obstacles for patients who have an appropriate medical purpose for a longer duration of opioid analgesic use; and some unfortunate obstacles for the doctors and pharmacists who need to prescribe and dispense these medications.”

Gottlieb reviewed what the agency has done thus far in its part of the fight against opioid addiction and covered some new steps being considered, including incorporating new prescribing information based on professional society evidence-based guidelines on opioid analgesic labeling and requiring sponsors to ensure that prescribers provide specific documentation for a prescription above a specified quantity. He also described the increased FDA presence at international mail facilities and increases to the CyberCrime Investigative Unit.