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# FDA Will Explore New Opioid Packaging: Gottlieb
- URL: https://www.fdaweb.com/fda-will-explore-new-opioid-packaging-gottlieb/
- Published: 2017-10-30T12:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-09-14T22:59:00.000Z
- Author: David McFarland
- Tags: Drugs, #legacy-id-D5140003

As part of the Trump Administration’s national public health emergency declaration against opioid abuse, FDA commissioner **Scott Gottlieb** [says](https://www.fda.gov/NewsEvents/Newsroom/PressAnnouncements/ucm582954.htm?ref=fdaweb.com) the agency is exploring how opioid drug products are packaged, stored and discarded. In an online post, he says public health could be improved if a short-term supply of opioids could be packaged in a manner that limits the number of pills dispensed. “Other packaging innovations could make it easier to track the number of doses that have been taken,” he says. “There are also technologies that could allow health care providers, pharmacists or family members to monitor patient use of prescription opioids.”

To explore further, FDA has [announced a two-day public workshop](https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2017/10/31/2017-23535/meetings-packaging-storage-and-disposal-options-to-enhance-opioid-safety--exploring-the-path-forward?ref=fdaweb.com) 12/11-12 to define the specific problems that certain types of packaging and disposal solutions can help address. “Second, we want to more clearly define the guiding principles that the scientific community should consider in designing product features that achieve these possible solutions,” he says. “Finally, we’ll better define the types of data needed in order to evaluate how these solutions are working.”