Newswise — The Food and Drug Administration is asking manufacturers of over-the-counter anti-diarrhea treatments to change the way they package their products to curb abuse by people with drug addictions.

William Eggleston, a clinical assistant professor at Binghamton University's School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, said the FDA action was a “good first step.” But he said that getting online sellers to work on the problem is critical. “Even if you limit the quantities available in any individual package, if you can buy a lot of packages online, that doesn't fix the issue that the drug is easily accessible,” Eggleston said.

If loperamide abuse continues to be a problem, Eggleston said, authorities should consider moving the drug behind the counter, which would require consumers to ask their pharmacists for it. That is what happened with products containing pseudoephedrine, which can be used to make methamphetamine. Congress passed a law more than a decade ago requiring that those be sold from behind the counter and imposing other restrictions.

Eggleston co-authored a 2017 report published online in the Annals of Emergency Medicine that described two men who died after ingesting large amounts of loperamide. One was a 24-year-old with a history of substance abuse. Found unresponsive at home, along with six empty boxes of loperamide, he appeared to have had a seizure. A police investigation indicated he had been using the drug to self-treat opioid withdrawal; authorities couldn't determine whether he died of an abnormal heart rhythm or breathing problems.