U.S. GAO reports on OxyContin abuse

WASHINGTON, Jan 22 (Reuters) - The U.S. Food and Drug Administration should work more closely with companies making narcotics and other drugs to make sure they are not abused like OxyContin was, Congressional investigators said on Thursday.

The official General Accounting Office report on OxyContin spreads the blame evenly -- noting that the FDA failed to aggressively regulate the popular painkiller and that its makers pushed too hard in marketing it.

But it said the company, federal and state regulators were working to get the problem under control and were putting into place plans that can help prevent such problems in the future.

OxyContin was introduced in 1996 as a high-dose, time-release version of popular narcotics such as percocet. Drugmaker Purdue Pharma said its formulation made it unlikely anyone could abuse it.

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