Related Experiment Video
Updated: May 15, 2026

Drug Repurposing Hypothesis Generation Using the "RE:fine Drugs" System
Published on: December 11, 2016
Pill counts and pill rental: unintended entrepreneurial opportunities
Christopher M Viscomi1, Melissa Covington, Catherine Christenson
1Department of Anesthesiology, College of Medicine, University of Vermont, Burlington, VT 05401, USA. christopher.viscomi@vtmednet.org
Background:
Prescription opioid diversion and abuse are becoming increasingly prevalent in many regions of the world, particularly the United States. One method advocated to assess compliance with opioid prescriptions is occasional "pill counts." Shortly before a scheduled appointment, a patient is notified that they must bring in the unused portion of their opioid prescription. It has been assumed that if a patient has the correct number and strength of pills that should be present for that point in a prescription interval that they are unlikely to be selling or abusing their opioids.
Methods:
Two cases are presented where patients describe short term rental of opioids from illicit opioid dealers in order to circumvent pill counts.
Results:
Pill renting appears to be an established method of circumventing pill counts.
Conclusions:
Pill counts do not assure non-diversion of opioids and provide additional cash flow to illicit opioid dealers.
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