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UC Davis engineers develop new test to detect opioid drugs in exhaled breath

A test to detect opioid drugs in exhaled breath has been developed by engineers and physicians at the University of California, Davis. A breath test could be useful in caring for chronic pain patients as well as for checking for illegal drug use.

4 Oct 2019

Longtime crusader against Oxycontin begins to see the fruits of her struggle

In the 15 years since she lost her son to a single OxyContin pill, Barbara Van Rooyan has had but one up-close look at the people representing the company that made it.

17 Sep 2019

Accelerating drug discovery process to help patients

An international research team has developed a new strategy that can predict the potential clinical implications of new therapeutic compounds based on simple cellular responses.

15 Sep 2019

Developing next generation treatment to counteract opioid addiction

There are many moments in the human experience when tragedy elicits not only compassion, but inspiration. When Mike Zhang heard the story of a mother whose son died of an opioid overdose just one month after the teenager's introduction to the drug at a party, the Virginia Tech researcher wanted to help.

11 Sep 2019

Opioids after surgery overly prescribed in USA and Canada

A new study covering several institutions shows that patients recovering from surgery in the US or Canada have a 50% chance of being treated with opioids. This is seven times as high as the corresponding percentage in Sweden. Within the US, the initial dosages are likely to be over 200 morphine milligram equivalents (MME) – much more than in Canada.

5 Sep 2019

In India’s burgeoning pain market, U.S. drugmakers stand to gain

Pain, like death, is a universal phenomenon. The sour grimace on the woman's face, registering her bodily complaints to Dr. G.P. Dureja in his East Delhi office, would be recognized anywhere. Slouched shoulders, pinched forehead. She wore a willowy black kurta and cast a disapproving glance at the five pain physicians-in-training huddled behind Dureja, founder of Delhi Pain Management Centre and one of India's pioneering pain physicians.

28 Aug 2019

Australian overdose deaths - sinister new trend

The incidence of unintentional overdose leading to death is still going up in Australia, says Australia’s Annual Overdose Report 2019. Most of the drugs involved are very powerful. They include prescription opioids and benzodiazepines as well as illegal substances like heroin and crystal methamphetamine or “ice”.

27 Aug 2019

UNM researchers find strong evidence that cannabis can significantly alleviate pain

Using the largest database of real-time recordings of the effects of common and commercially available cannabis products in the United States, researchers at The University of New Mexico found strong evidence that cannabis can significantly alleviate pain, with the average user experiencing a three-point drop in pain suffering on a 0-10 point scale immediately following cannabis consumption.

21 Aug 2019

Doctors can change opioid prescribing habits, but progress comes in small doses

When they started practicing medicine, most surgeons say, there was little or no information about just how many pain pills patients needed after specific procedures.

14 Aug 2019

Study finds rates of new persistent opioid use among women after vaginal or cesarean delivery

Nearly half of American women having a baby in the last decade received a prescription for a powerful opioid painkiller as part of their birth experience, a new study shows.

27 Jul 2019

Medicare going in ‘right direction’ on opioid epidemic

Prescriptions for two drugs used to treat opioid addiction increased significantly from 2016 to 2018 for people on Medicare, according to a federal report out Wednesday.

10 Jul 2019

Study finds alarmingly high rate of opioid prescriptions for osteoarthritis patients

Opioids work against severe pain but the risks of side effects and addiction are high. In the USA alone, 26 people die every day from overdoses.

8 Jul 2019

Researchers survey orthopedic providers to understand factors that drive opioid prescribing practices

Orthopedic surgeons are the third-highest physician prescribers of opioids, writing more than 6 million prescriptions a year.

From Johns Hopkins Medicine 27 Jun 2019

Interaction between antidepressants and opioid pain medication contributes to lesser pain relief

Common antidepressants interact with the opioid pain medication tramadol to make it less effective for pain relief, according to a study from University Hospitals.

26 Jun 2019

Surgeons’ opioid-prescribing habits hard to kick

As opioid addiction and deadly overdoses escalated into an epidemic across the U.S., thousands of surgeons continued to hand out far more pills than needed for postoperative pain relief, according to a KHN-Johns Hopkins analysis of Medicare data.

21 Jun 2019

Attention: Over forties face unnecessarily high risk of alcohol-related adverse drug reactions

People who drink alcohol while using medications that interact with it are higher risk of harm from overdose, falls, and traffic accidents.

29 May 2019

US dentists write more opioid prescriptions than England dentists

Researchers from the University of Illinois at Chicago have found that dentists practicing in the U.S. write 37 times more opioid prescriptions than dentists practicing in England.

25 May 2019

New pain management program sends 92% cancer surgery patients home with no opioids

A specialized pain management program for patients who underwent robotic surgery for urologic cancers resulted in just eight percent going home with narcotics after discharge, compared to 100 percent who would have received them without this enhanced recovery protocol.

23 May 2019

Opioid prescriptions drop sharply among state workers

The agency that manages health care for California's massive state workforce is reporting a major reduction in opioid prescriptions, reflecting a national trend of physicians cutting back on the addictive drugs.

21 May 2019

Researchers learn more about opioid prescribing in primary care

Chronic opioid prescribing in primary care varies significantly by patient and clinician characteristics, according to a new study.

15 May 2019