Painkiller News and Research

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Aspirin lowers risk for cancers: Meta analysis

Aspirin has multiple benefits. It is a painkiller whose origins can be traced to Hippocrates, reduces the chances of developing or dying from cancer earlier than previously thought and also prevents tumors from spreading, studies show.

28 Mar 2012

Nerve pain patients in Wales gain access to first of a kind treatment which can provide lasting pain relief

For the first time NHS patients in Wales with peripheral nerve pain (known as peripheral neuropathic pain) can be treated with a patch containing capsaicin, which can provide at least 12 weeks pain relief following a single 30- or 60-minute application.

25 Mar 2012

Ibuprofen may be used effectively for altitude sickness: Study

Altitude sickness manifests by symptoms including a headache, fatigue, dizziness and sometimes nausea and vomiting. In addition, patients most likely also feel like they are working harder to breathe, like they are constantly trying to catch their breath. It normally takes days to weeks to fully acclimate to a higher altitude. It affects between 25 percent and 40 percent of the population and can be debilitating.

25 Mar 2012

Lawmakers examine how Medicare, Medicaid can help stop prescription painkiller abuse

Lawmakers held a hearing Thursday on what steps the federal government can take to help prevent the abuse of prescription painkillers.

23 Mar 2012

First Edition: March 23, 2012

Today's health policy headlines are full of previews of next week's health law action at the Supreme Court.

23 Mar 2012

FDA panel favors continued research on novel pain medicine

A panel of experts for the U.S. Food and Drugs Administration (FDA) this Monday recommended that the federal government should allow continued testing of an experimental class of pain drugs for arthritis, despite links to bone decay and joint failure.

13 Mar 2012

Veterans prescribed more opioid pain killers: Study

According to a new government study Morphine and similar powerful painkillers are sometimes prescribed to recent war veterans suffering from post-traumatic stress along with physical pain. The study suggests that these vets are at high risk for drug and alcohol abuse, but they're two times more likely to get prescriptions for addictive painkillers than vets with only physical pain.

7 Mar 2012

Biogen Idec announces new easier to use injection for multiple sclerosis

The Food and Drug Administration approved the company's Avonex pen, an injection designed to reduce pain and anxiety when patients self-administer the drug. The FDA also approved a new dosing schedule for the drug intended to reduce flu-like symptoms often associated with the drug.

29 Feb 2012

New method can predict whether Tylenol-poisoning patients need liver transplant

University of Utah mathematicians developed a set of calculus equations to make it easier for doctors to save Tylenol overdose patients by quickly estimating how much painkiller they took, when they consumed it and whether they will require a liver transplant to survive.

27 Feb 2012

Women feel pain more than men: Study

A new study showed that women experience more intense pain than men. The study published in the Jan. 23 issue of the Journal of Pain, further suggests that greater effort is needed to recruit women into studies in order to determine the reasons for this gender difference. The Stanford University School of Medicine investigators examined pain scores from tens of thousands of patients in the United States.

24 Jan 2012

First Edition: January 20, 2012

Today's headlines include dispatches detailing how health care played in last night's S.C. GOP presidential primary debate.

20 Jan 2012

FDA notes shortage of ADHD medicines

According to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) drugs to treat attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) are in such short supply that hundreds of patients complain daily to the agency that they are unable to find a pharmacy with enough pills to fill their prescriptions.

2 Jan 2012

Powerful painkiller on its way to the market: Experts worry about addiction woes

Drug makers are on their way to a pure, more powerful version of the nation’s second most-abused medicine, which has addiction experts worried that it could spur a new wave of abuse. The new pills contain the highly addictive painkiller hydrocodone, packing up to 10 times the amount of the drug as existing medications such as Vicodin.

28 Dec 2011

MTF survey shows large decline in teen smoking

Cigarette and alcohol use by eighth, 10th and 12th-graders are at their lowest point since the Monitoring the Future (MTF) survey began polling teenagers in 1975, according to this year's survey results. However, this positive news is tempered by a slowing rate of decline in teen smoking as well as continued high rates of abuse of other tobacco products, marijuana and prescription drugs.

15 Dec 2011

Acetaminophen over-use can lead to serious liver damage

Common pain and fever Acetaminophen (best known by the brand name Tylenol) taken over a long time can cause liver failure and death, according to a new study.

24 Nov 2011

Merck agrees to pay $950 million in Vioxx settlement

The pharmaceutical giant will pay a $321 million criminal fine and a $628 million civil settlement.

24 Nov 2011

First Edition: November 23, 2011

Today's early morning highlights from the major news organizations include an examination of changes in Medicare that the Democrats have endorses and a Kansas abortion case.

23 Nov 2011

Study reveals principal mechanism of action for paracetamol

Researchers at King's College London have discovered how one of the most common household painkillers works, which could pave the way for less harmful pain relief medications to be developed in the future.

23 Nov 2011

Merck agrees to pay $950 million in Vioxx safety probe

Merck & Co. will pay $950 million and one of its units will plead guilty to a criminal charge to resolve a U.S. probe of its illegal marketing of the painkiller Vioxx.

22 Nov 2011

State roundup: Alaska's dental problem; some Minn. health funding blocked

The need for dental care in rural Alaska is huge. According to a recent CDC report, the rate of cavities among rural Alaska Native children is four and a half times greater than the general population of U.S. children of the same age. ... But it's important to note the dental therapist program in Alaska is not without controversy.

10 Nov 2011