Dependence characteristics and risk assessment of agonist-antagonist analgesics.

Risk assessment of dependence-producing drugs comprises assessment of two major risks: the risk that a drug is likely to be abused (abuse liability) and the harm that is likely to occur as a consequence of abuse (termed here as harm liability). Important determinants of these risks are the dependence-related pharmacological and toxicological properties of a drug. In this paper, the relationships of the drug properties to the abuse and harm liabilities are described. Next, a scoring system to assess the abuse and harm liabilities is introduced. Finally, an attempt to actually apply this system to several prototypic drugs of abuse and some agonist-antagonist analgesics is explained.