No problem.
What have we seen? We've seen a 73% reduction in non-oral abuse: injection, snorting, and smoking. We've seen a 33% reduction in oral abuse. We've also seen a reduction in outcomes that are surrogates for abuse. Diversion is down, criminal activity associated with OxyContin is down, as are pharmacy thefts. We've seen less doctor-shopping and fewer cash payments for high-milligram strength prescriptions, all surrogates for abuse.
Trumping everything is that fewer people have been dying as a consequence of OxyContin, especially in those cases reported to involve tampering in the context of abuse. All of the data in their totality—and I'm finishing up—were the basis for FDA, the U.S. health authority, to make two determinations. First, the OxyNEO formulation does in fact have features intended to deter or expected to deter abuse, and second, that the benefit-risk profile of the original product, which was easy to crush, was no longer considered favourable. That decision essentially barred “easy to tamper with” versions of controlled-release oxycodone from entering the U.S. market for sale.
We think that was a tremendous victory for public health in the United States, and while it's not a silver bullet, I'm here as a resource and I put my company behind me to answer questions and to do what we can to achieve the same outcome here in Canada.
Thank you very much, Chair.