Fentanyl News and Research

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Fentanyl is a powerful synthetic opiate analgesic similar to but more potent than morphine. It is typically used to treat patients with severe pain, or to manage pain after surgery. It is also sometimes used to treat people with chronic pain who are physically tolerant to opiates. It is a schedule II prescription drug.

New study casts doubt on effectiveness of opioids for cancer pain

The world's largest review on opioid medicines for cancer pain has found it is unclear whether some commonly used opioid medicines are better than a placebo and suggests that non-opioid medicines, including aspirin, may be as effective as opioids.

18 Dec 2023

‘They see a cash cow’: Corporations could consume $50 billion of opioid settlements

The marketing pitches are bold and arriving fast: Invest opioid settlement dollars in a lasso-like device to help police detain people without Tasers or pepper spray.

18 Dec 2023

Promising candidate medication for preventing and reversing fentanyl-induced overdose

Researchers assessed CSX-1004, a monoclonal antibody (mAb), for its efficacy in reversing fentanyl overdose based on its high affinity for fentanyl, positive animal model results, and safe pharmacokinetic profile, positioning it as a potential solution in the opioid crisis.

7 Dec 2023

MedUni Vienna scientists discover new pain medication with fewer side effects

People with chronic pain are often dependent on drugs from the class of opioids with sometimes considerable side effects.

6 Dec 2023

Fentanyl Identification On the Street and In the Lab

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From m-oem 4 Dec 2023

Health care is front and center as Desantis and Newsom go mano a mano

Republican presidential candidate Ron DeSantis and Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom — political rivals from opposite coasts and proxies for red and blue America — are set to square off for a first-of-its-kind debate Nov. 30 in Georgia.

27 Nov 2023

Evolving overdose crisis shakes previously effective treatments

"You can't inject a horse tranquilizer and think nothing bad is gonna happen" to you, said Ty Sears, 33, a longtime drug user now in recovery.

21 Nov 2023

Ingestible capsule can monitor vital signs from within the patient's GI tract

Diagnosing sleep disorders such as sleep apnea usually requires a patient to spend the night in a sleep lab, hooked up to a variety of sensors and monitors.

17 Nov 2023

Researchers develop new method to detect designer drugs in urine samples

Researchers from the University of B.C. and the BC Provincial Toxicology Centre (BCPTC) have developed a more efficient way to find out which new 'designer drugs' are circulating in the community

15 Nov 2023

Another GOP primary debate … another night of verbal clashes

On Wednesday night, a shrinking group of GOP Republican presidential hopefuls — former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, businessman Vivek Ramaswamy, Sen. Tim Scott, and former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie — faced off in Miami for their party's third debate.

9 Nov 2023

Study identifies predictors of opioid overdose after prescription for chronic pain

A large study published in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal) https://www.cmaj.ca/lookup/doi/10.1503/cmaj.230459 identified 10 predictors of opioid overdose after prescription for chronic pain, which can help clinicians engage in shared decision-making with patients around opioid prescribing.

24 Oct 2023

Using opioid settlement cash for police gear like squad cars and scanners sparks debate

Policing expenses mount quickly: $25,000 for a law enforcement conference about fentanyl in Colorado; $18,000 for technology to unlock cellphones in Southington, Connecticut; $2,900 for surveillance cameras and to train officers and canines in New Lexington, Ohio. And in other communities around the country, hundreds of thousands for vehicles, body scanners, and other equipment.

23 Oct 2023

Feds try to head off growing problem of overdoses among expectant mothers

When Andria Peterson began working as a clinical pharmacist in the pediatric and neonatal intensive care units at St. Rose Dominican Hospital in Henderson, Nevada, in 2009, she witnessed the devastating effects the opioid crisis had on the hospital's youngest patients.

19 Oct 2023

Pregnant and addicted: Homeless women see hope in street medicine

Five days after giving birth, Melissa Crespo was already back on the streets, recovering in a damp, litter-strewn water tunnel, when she got the call from the hospital.

18 Oct 2023

Drug overdose deaths disproportionately affect Americans without college education

Drug overdose deaths increased sharply among Americans without a college education and nearly doubled over a three-year period among those who don't have a high school diploma, according to a new RAND Corporation study.

6 Oct 2023

More schools stock overdose reversal meds, but others worry about stigma

Last year, a student fell unconscious after walking out of a bathroom at Central High School in Pueblo, Colorado.

3 Oct 2023

Officials agree: Use settlement funds to curb youth addiction. But the ‘how’ gets hairy.

When three teenagers died of fentanyl overdoses last year in Larimer County, Colorado, it shocked the community and “flipped families upside down,” said Tom Gonzales, the county’s public health director.

25 Sep 2023

New study suggests higher buprenorphine doses could help save lives

Individuals with opioid use disorder who were prescribed a lower buprenorphine dose were 20% more likely to discontinue treatment than those on a higher dose, according to a study of patients prescribed buprenorphine in Rhode Island from 2016 to 2020, as fentanyl became widely available.

19 Sep 2023

Experts provide guidance on opioid management in individuals with cancer-related pain

Clinicians treating cancer-related pain must consider whether and how to prescribe opioids to patients who use nonmedical stimulants such as cocaine and methamphetamines; however, no guidelines exist related to these common and challenging situations.

15 Sep 2023

Study: Drug overdose deaths in the U.S. more than quadrupled from 1999 to 2020

The United States is experiencing its highest overall death rates in more than a century, fueled in part by drug overdose mortality. The origins of the current epidemic are due, at least in part, to a 1986 World Health Organization pronouncement that pain treatment is a universal right.

12 Sep 2023