Oxycodone
Oxycodone is an opioid analgesic medication synthesized from opium-derived thebaine. diacetylmorphine (heroin) and codeine. It was introduced to the pharmaceutical market as Eukodal or Eucodal and Dinarkon. Oxycodone was first synthesized in a German laboratory in 1916, a few years after the German pharmaceutical company Bayer had stopped the mass production of heroin due to addiction and abuse. It was hoped that a thebaine-derived drug would retain the analgesic effects of morphine and heroin with less addiction. To some extent this was achieved, as oxycodone does not have the same immediate effect as heroin or morphine nor does it last as long. It was first introduced to the US market in May 1939 and is the active ingredient in a number of pain medications commonly prescribed for the relief of moderate to severe pain, either with inert binders, e.g. (oxycodone, OxyContin) or supplemental analgesics such as paracetamol (acetaminophen), e.g. (Percocet, Endocet, Tylox, Roxicet) or aspirin (Percodan, Endodan, Roxiprin).