( CNN ) -- In the painkiller world , oxycodone and naloxone seem like strange bedfellows . Oxycodone is a powerful painkiller , while naloxone is used to reverse painkiller overdose . On Wednesday , the Food and Drug Administration approved a drug combining the two , called Targiniq ER . The drug 's maker , Purdue Pharma , said the combination is intended to `` alleviate pain while also introducing a new method by which to help deter misuse and abuse . '' Oxycodone is one in a group of powerful painkillers -- called opioid analgesics -- that include hydrocodone , morphine and hydromorphone . It provides pain relief by binding to receptors in the brain that dull the sensation of pain . So why marry it with naloxone ? Simply put , naloxone can unseat oxycodone on those same brain receptors , blocking its ability to provide pain relief . In the case of Targiniq , it happens only when the pill is crushed . If the pill remains intact , naloxone lies dormant , allowing oxycodone to do its work . Approval of an abuse-deterrent painkiller such as Targiniq would seem welcome , considering the rampant use of the drugs in the United States . The United States consumes 83 % of the world 's oxycodone and 99 % of its hydrocodone , according to a 2010 International Narcotics Control Board report . Forty-six people die each day from prescription painkiller overdoses , according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention . Dr. Stephen Anderson , an emergency room physician who sees opioid overdoses on a weekly basis , said Targiniq limits the common abuse delivery routes -- such as crushing , dissolving and injecting pills , or crushing and snorting them . `` Well done to the manufacturer for placing some built-in pharmacological protections , '' said Anderson , past president of the Washington chapter of the American College of Emergency Physicians , in an e-mail . `` It wo n't stop orally ingested overdose deaths , but will limit some of its 'street marketability . ' `` And abuse-deterrence seemed to work with another of Purdue Pharma 's painkillers , OxyContin : A difficult-to-crush version of the drug was introduced in 2010 . `` Before that , OxyContin was the most commonly diverted and abused drug , '' said Caleb Banta-Green , an opioid overdose researcher and former senior science adviser to the Office of National Drug Control Policy . `` After the formulation changed , nobody liked it because they could n't abuse it . '' According to the New England Journal of Medicine , before 2010 , OxyContin had been considered a primary drug of abuse for about 36 % of people surveyed . Twenty-one months after the introduction of the abuse-deterrence version , only 13 % abused it . What impact Targiniq 's approval could have on oxycodone abuse remains to be seen . Targiniq 's approval `` will better enable the FDA to balance addressing this problem with meeting the needs of the millions of people in this country suffering from pain , '' said Dr. Sharon Hertz , deputy director of the FDA 's Division of Anesthesia , Analgesia and Addiction Products , in a statement . The FDA said the drug should be prescribed as a last resort , for patients who have exhausted all other attempts to relieve their pain . Still , experts on addiction said they fear that Targiniq could still be easily abused . `` Naloxone is only active if injected or squirted up the nose , '' said Andrew Kolodny , chief medical officer of the Phoenix House , an alcohol and drug abuse treatment provider . `` That means a patient who chews Targiniq will get the entire dose all at once and the naloxone will have no effect . `` When the pills are swallowed , they are as addictive and dangerous as pure oxycodone . '' The concern is that people who abuse or misuse opioids ( also called opiates ) will simply find another route to a high . `` In a sense it 's playing a game of whack-a-mole , because if people are addicted to opiates , they will find an opiate , '' said Banta-Green , who 's a senior research scientist at the University of Washington 's Alcohol and Drug Abuse Institute . `` This ( drug approval ) could and will likely help , but it does n't fix the inherent problem that people addicted to opiates will continue to use them . '' FDA aims to tighten control of hydrocodone . FDA fights drug overdoses with new labels .
The Food and Drug Administration approves Targiniq ER . In the United States, there are about 100 million people who have a chronic condition that requires an opioid painkiller. Experts on addiction say they fear Targiniq could still be easily abused .