On May 23, 2017, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Opioid Policy Steering Committee (OPSC) was established to explore and develop additional approaches or strategies FDA can use to combat the opioid crisis. The Committee is comprised of senior FDA leaders as designated by the Commissioner and resides in the Office of Medical Products and Tobacco (OMPT) in the Office of the Commissioner. Since its establishment, the Opioid Policy Steering Committee meetings have included Scott Gottlieb, Peter Marks, Janet Woodcock, Jeffrey Shuren, Amanda Edmonds, John Martin, Melinda Plaisier, Rachel Sherman, and Theresa Toigo. Additional FDA staff participate in meetings as needed to provide additional information or expertise on particular topics.

The FDA is committed to exploring all facets of this complex issue and collaborating on various approaches, as there are no simple answers to address the opioid epidemic. FDA is focusing its efforts in the following four areas:

Commissioner Opioid Priorities: Decreasing Exposure & Preventing New Addiction, Supporting the Treatment of Those with Opioid Use Disorder, Fostering the Development of Novel Pain Treatment Therapies, Improving Enforcement & Assessing Benefit-Risk

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