Chronic Pain News and Research

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Pediatric pain experts discuss safety, efficacy of pain medications in children

Can we be certain that pain medications considered safe for adults, based on extensive clinical data and experience, are equally safe for use in young children? Pediatric pain experts discussed this question today in a panel session at the American Pain Society, www.ampainsoc.org, annual scientific meeting and agreed more short term and long-term clinical data are needed to provide assurances about the safety and efficacy of several pain medications in children.

21 May 2011

HSS researchers develop new tool to compare efficacy of different brachial plexus surgical treatments

The way that clinicians report outcomes of surgery for a traumatic nerve injury involving the arm is not standardized, and it is thus difficult to compare the efficacy of different surgical treatments, according to a study by researchers at Hospital for Special Surgery (HSS) in New York.

20 May 2011

Complementary and alternative health practices show promise for management of pain

A variety of complementary and alternative health practices —including meditation and relaxation techniques, manual therapies such as massage and spinal manipulation, meditative exercise forms such as yoga, Tai Chi, and ancient health practices such as acupuncture—show promise for contributing to the management of pain according to research presented at the Annual Scientific Meeting of the American Pain Society, www.ampainsoc.org.

20 May 2011

Unigene enters Clinical Manufacturing Services Agreement with Cara Therapeutics

Unigene Laboratories, Inc. a leader in the design, delivery, manufacture and development of peptide-based therapeutics announced today that the Company signed a Clinical Manufacturing Services Agreement with Cara Therapeutics, Inc.

19 May 2011

Online program helps people to manage chronic pain

There is good news for the 76 million Americans who experience chronic pain including migraine, back pain, fibromyalgia and arthritis. A new study reveals that an online, self-paced chronic pain management program reduces the physical and psychological burdens of this debilitating condition.

19 May 2011

Treatment of chronic low back pain can reverse abnormal brain activity and function

It likely comes as no surprise that low back pain is the most common form of chronic pain among adults. Lesser known is the fact that those withchronic pain also experience cognitive impairments and reduced gray matter in parts of the brain associated with pain processing and the emotional components of pain, like depression and anxiety.

18 May 2011

Kaiser Permanente awards $7.7 million as 217 grants during first quarter, 2011

Kaiser Permanente, one of the country's largest not-for-profit health care organizations, announced today that it has funded 217 grants nationwide, totaling approximately $7.7 million in the first quarter of 2011.

6 May 2011

OU-COM receives Osteopathic Heritage Foundation grant to address healthcare issues

The Osteopathic Heritage Foundations' $105 million award to Ohio University's College of Osteopathic Medicine represents the largest private donation ever given to a college or university in Ohio. This gift will be used to address some of the most pressing health care issues across the state and the nation - the impending shortage of primary care physicians and the diabetes epidemic.

2 May 2011

Abnormal connections created by central nervous system linked to persistence of chronic pain

Chronic pain is an epidemic. One in four Americans suffers from chronic pain due to disease—including cancer and HIV—and the medications used to treat those diseases. One reason for the persistence of chronic pain may be that the patient's central nervous system creates abnormal connections or improves connections that shouldn't be strengthened, explains Susan G. Dorsey, PhD, RN, co-director of the School of Nursing's Center of Excellence in Disorders of Neuroregulatory Function.

30 Apr 2011

Drug subsidy issues out of PBS’ hands - almost

According to Health Minister Nicola Roxon, expensive drugs have never been automatically listed for subsidy and they can't be now when the government controlling expenses. She added that federal Labor has to balance competing priorities in health and every other department.

29 Apr 2011

Promising pain medication may decrease ability to fight off sepsis

Pain researchers from the Sheikh Zayed Institute for Pediatric Surgical Innovation at Children's National Medical Center have discovered that resiniferatoxin, a drug that has shown early promise as an option for chronic, severe pain sufferers, may decrease the body's ability to fight off bacterial infections, particularly sepsis.

27 Apr 2011

Unintentional prescription opioid overdose deaths have reached epidemic proportions in the U.S.

Unintentional overdose deaths in teens and adults have reached epidemic proportions in the U.S. In some 20 states in 2007 the number of unintentional drug poisoning deaths exceeded either motor vehicle crashes or suicides, two of the leading causes of injury death.

26 Apr 2011

Medtronic's English Channel swimming competition to raise awareness on ALS

In August 2011, Doug McConnell of Barrington, Illinois, expects to be the 48th person over age 50 to successfully swim across the English Channel. He will be swimming more than 21 grueling miles in memory of his father, David, who passed away from ALS.

From Medtronic 25 Apr 2011

Convergence initiates CNV2197944 Phase I study in chronic pain

Convergence Pharmaceuticals Limited, the company focused on the development of novel and high value analgesic medicines, today announced that the first-time-in-man Phase I study of the novel, first in class calcium channel blocker CNV2197944, for the treatment of chronic pain has been initiated and dosing has begun.

22 Apr 2011

Spanish tool measures infant pain rapidly and simply

It turns out to be difficult to find out exactly how much a child who cannot yet speak suffers after a surgical operation. Researchers at the University Hospital of La Paz, in Madrid, have validated the 'Llanto' scale, the first, and only, tool in Spanish which measures infant pain rapidly and simply.

20 Apr 2011

Covidien supports FDA’s REMS for important class of pain medications

Covidien (NYSE: COV), a leading global provider of healthcare products, supports the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategy (REMS) for an important class of pain medications.

20 Apr 2011

Plans to combat painkiller abuse

This Tuesday, the Obama administration announced a plan to fight prescription drug abuse, warning that accidental fatal overdoses now exceed the combined deadly overdoses from the crack epidemic of the 1980s and black tar heroin in the 1970s.

19 Apr 2011

Forest Labs fourth quarter net sales increase 9.7% to $1,091.9 million

Forest Laboratories, Inc., an international pharmaceutical manufacturer and marketer, announced that reported earnings per share equaled $1.12 in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2011.

19 Apr 2011

Stimulation of brain nerves accelerates learning

In a breakthrough that may aid treatment of learning impairments, strokes, tinnitus and chronic pain, UT Dallas researchers have found that brain nerve stimulation accelerates learning in laboratory tests.

15 Apr 2011

Women consume more non-prescribed drugs than men

Approximately 20% of Spaniards take non-prescribed medication and women are the group most inclined towards this practice. This is the conclusion of a research study carried out by experts from the Rey Juan Carlos University in Madrid, which also links this habit to nationality, income level and alcohol and tobacco consumption amongst the population.

15 Apr 2011