INDICATIONS AND USAGE Oxycodone hydrochloride tablets are an immediate-release oral formulation of oxycodone hydrochloride indicated for the management of moderate to severe pain where the use of an opioid analgesic is appropriate.

WARNINGS Respiratory Depression Respiratory depression is the chief hazard from all opioid agonist preparations.

Respiratory depression occurs most frequently in elderly or debilitated patients, usually following large initial doses in non-tolerant patients, or when opioids are given in conjunction with other agents that depress respiration.

Oxycodone hydrochloride tablets should be used with extreme caution in patients with significant chronic obstructive pulmonary disease or cor pulmonale, and in patients having substantially decreased respiratory reserve, hypoxia, hypercapnia, or pre-existing respiratory depression.

In such patients, even usual therapeutic doses of oxycodone hydrochloride tablets may decrease respiratory drive to the point of apnea.

In these patients alternative non-opioid analgesics should be considered, and opioids should be employed only under careful medical supervision at the lowest effective dose.

Hypotensive Effect Oxycodone hydrochloride tablets, like all opioid analgesics, may cause severe hypotension in an individual whose ability to maintain blood pressure has been compromised by a depleted blood volume, or after concurrent administration with drugs such as phenothiazines or other agents which compromise vasomotor tone.

Oxycodone hydrochloride tablets may produce orthostatic hypotension in ambulatory patients.

Oxycodone hydrochloride tablets, like all opioid analgesics, should be administered with caution to patients in circulatory shock, since vasodilatation produced by the drug may further reduce cardiac output and blood pressure.

Head Injury and Increased Intracranial Pressure The respiratory depressant effects of narcotics and their capacity to elevate cerebrospinal fluid pressure may be markedly exaggerated in the presence of head injury, other intracranial lesions or a pre-existing increase in intracranial pressure.

Furthermore, narcotics produce adverse reactions which may obscure the clinical course of patients with head injuries.

ADVERSE REACTIONS Oxycodone hydrochloride tablets have been evaluated in open label clinical trials in patients with cancer and nonmalignant pain.

Oxycodone hydrochloride tablets are associated with adverse experiences similar to those seen with other opioids.

Serious adverse reactions that may be associated with oxycodone hydrochloride tablets therapy in clinical use are those observed with other opioid analgesics and include: respiratory depression, respiratory arrest, circulatory depression, cardiac arrest, hypotension, and/or shock (see OVERDOSAGE , WARNINGS ).

The less severe adverse events seen on initiation of therapy with oxycodone hydrochloride tablets are also typical opioid side effects.

These events are dose dependent, and their frequency depends on the clinical setting, the patient's level of opioid tolerance, and host factors specific to the individual.

They should be expected and managed as a part of opioid analgesia.

The most frequent of these include nausea, constipation, vomiting, headache, and pruritus.

In many cases the frequency of adverse events during initiation of opioid therapy may be minimized by careful individualization of starting dosage, slow titration and the avoidance of large rapid swings in plasma concentration of the opioid.

Many of these adverse events will abate as therapy is continued and some degree of tolerance is developed, but others may be expected to remain throughout therapy.

In all patients for whom dosing information was available (n=191) from the open-label and double-blind studies involving oxycodone hydrochloride tablets, the following adverse events were recorded in patients treated with oxycodone hydrochloride tablets with an incidence ≥ 3%.

In descending order of frequency they were: nausea, constipation, vomiting, headache, pruritus, insomnia, dizziness, asthenia, and somnolence.

The following adverse experiences occurred in less than 3% of patients involved in clinical trials with oxycodone: Body as a Whole – abdominal pain, accidental injury, allergic reaction, back pain, chills and fever, fever, flu syndrome, infection, neck pain, pain, photosensitivity reaction, and sepsis.

Cardiovascular – deep thrombophlebitis, heart failure, hemorrhage, hypotension, migraine, palpitation, and tachycardia.

Digestive – anorexia, diarrhea, dyspepsia, dysphagia, gingivitis, glossitis, and nausea and vomiting.

Hemic and Lymphatic – anemia and leukopenia.

Metabolic and Nutritional – edema, gout, hyperglycemia, iron deficiency anemia and peripheral edema.

Musculoskeletal – arthralgia, arthritis, bone pain, myalgia and pathological fracture.

Nervous – agitation, anxiety, confusion, dry mouth, hypertonia, hypesthesia, nervousness, neuralgia, personality disorder, tremor, and vasodilation.

Respiratory – bronchitis, cough increased, dyspnea, epistaxis, laryngismus, lung disorder, pharyngitis, rhinitis, and sinusitis.

Skin and Appendages – herpes simplex, rash, sweating, and urticaria.

Special Senses – amblyopia.

Urogenital – urinary tract infection.