Assessment of Abuse Potential of Drugs; Guidance for Industry; Availability

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA or Agency) is announcing the availability of a guidance for industry entitled ``Assessment of Abuse Potential of Drugs.'' This guidance is intended to assist sponsors of investigational new drugs and applicants for approval of a new drug in evaluating whether their new drug product has abuse potential. Specifically, this guidance provides recommendations for assessing the abuse potential of central nervous system (CNS)-active new drugs. Drug products with abuse potential generally contain drug substances that are active within the CNS and produce psychoactive effects such as euphoria and hallucinations. Thus, if a drug substance is CNS-active, the new drug product containing that drug substance will likely need to undergo a thorough assessment of its abuse potential and may be subject to control under the Controlled Substances Act (CSA). This guidance finalizes the draft guidance of the same name issued on January 27, 2010.