Pharmaceutical Hopes To End Meth Labs

{St. Louis, Missouri}...Jim Bausch, president and CEO of Highland Pharmaceuticals, a small company in suburban St. Louis, says the company has received regulatory approval and hopes to have a formulation known as Tarex on the market by summer in the form of tablets under the brand name Releva. Bausch says his company's form of pseudoephedrine is just as effective as those currently on the market, but they can't be extracted and used to make meth. Bausch told members of the Missouri House Crime Prevention and Public Safety Committee Wednesday that, "We can stop clandestine production of meth." Some narcotics officers believe the Tarex technology holds promise in finally turning the tide against meth labs. The Drug Enforcement Administration, which has done preliminary testing of Tarex using extraction and production techniques typically used by meth lab operators, says results are promising.