OxyContin News and Research

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First Edition: April 18, 2013

Today's headlines include reports from Capitol Hill about one Democratic senator's poor reviews of the Obama administration's progress in implementing the health law.

18 Apr 2013

Updated labeling for Purdue Pharma's reformulated OxyContin tablets gets FDA approval

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration today approved updated labeling for Purdue Pharma L.P.'s reformulated OxyContin (oxycodone hydrochloride controlled-release) tablets.

17 Apr 2013

FDA finds violations at 28 drug compounding pharmacies

The FDA has found safety violations at 28 of 29 compounding pharmacies that are supposed to be producing sterile drugs.

16 Apr 2013

Today's headlines include reports about the Medicare provisions in the budget plan released last week by President Barack Obama as well as previews of the Supreme Court's consideration of arguments regarding whether human genes can be patented.

15 Apr 2013

OMT offers moderate to substantial pain relief from chronic low back pain

The numbers are staggering. More than 632 million people worldwide suffer from low back pain, and it is a leading cause of disability. According to the Institute of Medicine, one-third of all Americans suffer from chronic pain, which exceeds the number of people who are affected by heart disease, diabetes and cancer combined.

19 Mar 2013

Low testosterone levels occur more often among men on long-acting opioids

Low testosterone levels occur five times more often among men who take long-acting instead of short-acting opioids for chronic pain, according to a new Kaiser Permanente study published in The Clinical Journal of Pain.

2 Feb 2013

Parents not very concerned about misuse of narcotic pain medicines by children and teens

Despite data on rising rates of abuse and overdoses of narcotic pain medicines across all age groups, in a new poll from the University of Michigan, most parents said they are not very concerned about misuse of these medicines by children and teens.

24 Jan 2013

Government announces fraud collections hit record $5 billion

The Justice Department's civil division recovered a record $5 billion in the past fiscal year from companies that defrauded taxpayers, with much of the abuse occurring in the health care and mortgage industries.

6 Dec 2012

Summit looks at the growing problem of prescription drug abuse

Today, a not-for-profit organization presenting at the Delaware Prescription Drug Abuse Summit appealed to the event's host, Attorney General Beau Biden, for assistance in preventing medication overdoses.

17 Nov 2012

Prescription pain medication abuse on the rise among current generation of adolescents

A new study by the University of Colorado Denver reveals that today's adolescents are abusing prescription pain medications like vicodin, valium and oxycontin at a rate 40 percent higher than previous generations.

17 Oct 2012

Roundup: Texas probes Xerox in Medicaid overbilling; Miss. abortion clinic fights to stay open

Texas authorities are investigating whether Xerox Corp. played a role in allowing dentists to allegedly overbill the state's Medicaid system by millions of dollars.

5 Sep 2012

New FDA risk management plan aims to reduce opioid abuse in the U.S.

A new risk management plan from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to help clinicians properly prescribe drugs with addiction potential aims to help reduce the growing epidemic of opioid abuse in the United States.

2 Aug 2012

Longer looks: Physicians and assisted suicide; Avoid getting sick in July

Peggy Sutherland was ready to die. The morphine oozing from a pump in her spine was no match for the pain of lung cancer, which had evaded treatment and invaded her ribs. … Sutherland, 68, decided to use Oregon's "Death With Dignity Act," which allows terminally-ill residents to end their lives after a 15-day requisite waiting period by self-administering a lethal prescription drug. ... But not all doctors are on board with the law.

20 Jul 2012

State roundup: Mass. to allow coupons for some branded drugs

Johns Hopkins Hospital lost its coveted spot as the nation's top-ranked hospital for the first time in 22 years, edged out by Boston's Massachusetts General Hospital in the latest analysis by U.S. News & World Report to be released Tuesday. Hopkins still ranked No. 2, and marketing experts said falling one spot will hurt the hospital's ego more than its reputation.

18 Jul 2012

Roundup: Some troubled N.Y. hospitals don't carry malpractice insurance; Lobbying may dilute Mass. health care cost bill

Several of the city's most troubled hospitals are partially or completely uninsured for malpractice, state records show, forgoing what is considered a standard safeguard across the country.

17 Jul 2012

Many abusers switch to heroin due to new formulation of OxyContin

A change in the formula of the frequently abused prescription painkiller OxyContin has many abusers switching to a drug that is potentially more dangerous, according to researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.

12 Jul 2012

State roundup: N.Y.'s drug Rx bill passes unanimously, Mass. poll finds Dr. communication essential

New York lawmakers unanimously approved legislation Monday that will require doctors to issue drug prescriptions electronically within three years, meanwhile establishing tighter restrictions on painkillers and other addictive drugs on the state list of controlled substances.

13 Jun 2012

First Edition: June 12, 2012

Today's headlines include news about the pressure health costs are placing on state budgets.

12 Jun 2012

Young adults, adolescents with mental health disorders more likely to become long-term opioid users

Long-term use and abuse of opioid painkillers, such as OxyContin and Vicodin, has markedly increased in the United States in the last two decades. Of note, prescription opioids constitute 86.9 percent of prescription drug misuse among high school students. And last week in a two-day U.S. Food and Drug Administration public meeting, officials questioned the use of long-term opioids for chronic pain due to a lack of evidence for the effectiveness and concerns about the potential risk for addiction.

7 Jun 2012

Pisgah receives USPTO Notice of Allowance for drug abuse solution

Pisgah Laboratories, Inc. received Notice of Allowance from the United States Patent and Trademark Office for its patent application entitled "Opioid Salts and Formulations Exhibiting Anti-Abuse and Anti-Dose Dumping Properties."

2 Jun 2012