U.S. regulators on Friday approved a fast-acting, super-potent opioid tablet as an alternative to IV painkillers used in hospitals. The decision by the Food and Drug Administration came over objections from critics who fear the pill will be abused. In …
The ease of relapsing into opioid addiction has led a growing number of states to help residents make it clear to medical professionals they do not want to be prescribed the powerful painkillers. Connecticut and Alaska are two of the …
Health care providers wrote 259 million prescriptions for opioid painkillers in 2012, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Prescriptions were distributed unevenly throughout the United States—health care providers in the highest prescribing state wrote almost three times …
A new study, Longer-Term Use of Opioids, 2nd Edition, from the Workers Compensation Research Institute (WCRI) found that there was little reduction in the prevalence of longer-term opioid use in most states studied. In most states, the percentage of claims …
Drugmakers that market powerful painkiller medications will be required to train U.S. doctors, nurses and other health professionals in the safe use of the drugs, which are blamed for thousands of fatal overdoses each year. The safety plan released by …