Opioids News and Research

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An opioid is a chemical that works by binding to opioid receptors, which are found principally in the central nervous system and the gastrointestinal tract. The receptors in these two organ systems mediate both the beneficial effects and the side effects of opioids.

Fibromyalgia now considered as a lifelong central nervous system disorder

Fibromyalgia is the second most common rheumatic disorder behind osteoarthritis and, though still widely misunderstood, is now considered to be a lifelong central nervous system disorder, which is responsible for amplified pain that shoots through the body in those who suffer from it.

18 May 2015

APS honors recipients of Clinical Centers of Excellence in Pain Management Awards

The American Pain Society today honored the recipients of its annual Clinical Centers of Excellence in Pain Management Awards recognizing the nation's outstanding pain care centers. Five multidisciplinary pain programs were recognized.

15 May 2015

APS announces recipients of prestigious achievement awards during annual scientific meeting

The American Pain Society (APS), www.americanpainsociety.org, today announced the recipients of its prestigious achievement awards during the organization's annual scientific meeting.

14 May 2015

Patients who report 'weekend-only' drug use expand drug use to weekdays too

More than half of patients who report "weekend-only" drug use end up expanding their drug use to weekdays, too -- suggesting that primary care clinicians should monitor patients who acknowledge "recreational" drug use, says a new study by Boston University public health and medicine researchers.

13 May 2015

Orexigen Therapeutics provides update on business and financial results for Q1 2015

Orexigen Therapeutics, Inc. today announced business and financial results for the first quarter ended March 31, 2015.

8 May 2015

Neonatal abstinence syndrome on the rise in U.S.

The number of infants born in the United States with drug withdrawal symptoms, also known as neonatal abstinence syndrome (NAS), nearly doubled in a four-year period. By 2012, one infant was born every 25 minutes in the U.S. with the syndrome, accounting for $1.5 billion in annual health care charges, according to a new Vanderbilt study published in the Journal of Perinatology.

30 Apr 2015

Emergency department-initiated treatment better than referrals for opioid-dependent patients

Yale researchers conducted the first known randomized trial comparing three treatment strategies for opioid-dependent patients receiving emergency care. They found that patients given the medication buprenorphine were more likely to engage in addiction treatment and reduce their illicit opioid use.

29 Apr 2015

Study reveals increasing incidence of neonatal abstinence syndrome in U.S.

An increasing number of babies across the country are born addicted to opioids and require intensive care, according to a study analyzing MEDNAX Clinical Data Warehouse statistics from 299 neonatal intensive care units (NICUs) around the United States.

28 Apr 2015

Positive CHMP opinion recommends RELISTOR for treatment of opioid-induced constipation

Valeant Pharmaceuticals International, Inc. and Progenics Pharmaceuticals, Inc. today announced that the Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use of the European Medicines Agency has adopted a positive opinion recommending a new indication for RELISTOR (methylnaltrexone bromide) Subcutaneous Injection for the treatment of opioid-induced constipation (OIC) when response to laxative therapy has not been sufficient in adult patients, aged 18 years and older.

25 Apr 2015

Early and guideline adherent physical therapy reduces costs, resources in LBP patients

A study in the scientific journal BMC Health Services Research shows that early and guideline adherent physical therapy following an initial episode of acute, nonspecific low back pain (LBP) resulted in substantially lower costs and reduced use of health care resources over a 2-year period.

10 Apr 2015

MOVANTIK (naloxegol) now available in U.S. for treatment of OIC in adult patients with non-cancer pain

Nektar Therapeutics reported that partner AstraZeneca announced today that MOVANTIK (naloxegol) has launched in the United States. On September 16, 2014, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved MOVANTIK as the first once-daily oral peripherally-acting mu-opioid receptor antagonist (PAMORA) medication for the treatment of opioid-induced constipation (OIC) in adult patients with chronic, non-cancer pain.

31 Mar 2015

Study provides new estimates of opioid misuse, addiction

New estimates suggest that 20 to 30 percent of opioid analgesic drugs prescribed for chronic pain are misused, while the rate of opioid addiction is approximately 10 percent, reports a study in the April issue of PAIN, the official journal of the International Association for the Study of Pain.

31 Mar 2015

Data demonstrates benefits associated with use of EXPAREL in hip, knee replacement patients

Pacira Pharmaceuticals, Inc. today announced data demonstrating the benefits associated with the use of EXPAREL (bupivacaine liposome injectable suspension) in a study of over 2,200 hip and knee replacement patients.

27 Mar 2015

Mesenchymal stem cell transplantation reduces opioid tolerance, opioid-induced pain

Mesenchymal stem cell (MSC) transplantation reduced opioid tolerance and opioid-induced hyperalgesia caused by daily morphine injections in rats, according to new research.

25 Mar 2015

Healthcare systems miss life-saving treatments learnt on battlefield

Trauma is responsible for more global deaths annually than HIV, malaria and tuberculosis combined. Yet healthcare systems in many countries are missing out on life-saving treatments learnt on the battlefield, according to a review by King's College London and published today in the Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine.

20 Mar 2015

Daiichi Sankyo signs co-commercialization agreement with AstraZeneca for MOVANTIK (naloxegol)

Daiichi Sankyo, Inc. today announced a co-commercialization agreement with AstraZeneca for MOVANTIK (naloxegol) in the US, in line with the Daiichi Sankyo strategy to expand its US portfolio through strategic alliances, in addition to internal R&D and acquisitions.

19 Mar 2015

United Therapeutics announces FDA approval of dinutuximab for treatment of high-risk neuroblastoma

United Therapeutics Corporation announced today that the United States Food and Drug Administration has approved Unituxin (dinutuximab) Injection (formerly called ch14.18), in combination with granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF), interleukin-2 (IL-2), and 13-cis-retinoic acid (RA), for the treatment of pediatric patients with high-risk neuroblastoma who achieve at least a partial response to prior first-line multiagent, multimodality therapy.

10 Mar 2015

Stepped-care strategy improves function, decreases pain severity in veterans

Although U.S. military veterans who have returned from Iraq or Afghanistan are more likely to suffer chronic pain than veterans of any other conflict in American history, little headway has been made in helping them manage the often debilitating effects of chronic pain.

10 Mar 2015

Investigational drug may attack cause of vaso-occlusion crises in sickle cell anemia

Treatment for painful episodes of blood vessel obstruction in sickle cell anemia is currently limited to controlling pain, but an investigational therapy might be able to interfere with the underlying cause of these events, known as vaso-occlusion crises, researchers at Duke Medicine report.

3 Mar 2015

Survey: Only 53% of primary care physicians use state's prescription drug monitoring programs

In a new survey, researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health found that physicians report relatively high awareness of state databases that track drug prescriptions but more than one-fifth indicated they were not aware of their state's program at all.