Image of male nurse pushing senior woman in a wheelchair in nursing facility

Labels for certain opioid pain medications will soon be required to carry a warning about the drugs’ risks of misuse and death, the Food and Drug Administration said in March.

The warning labels will primarily apply to immediate-release opioids and are designed to make people aware of the “serious risks of misuse, abuse, addiction, overdose and death,” the FDA said. 

The agency also will update safety labels and risk information across all prescription opioid products in an effort to “reverse” the growing epidemic of opioid abuse.