Search results for: chronic pain

Lilly Says New Type of Pain Drug Could Reduce Need for Opioids

Ransdell Pierson | May 28, 2016

(Reuters)—Eli Lilly and Co. on Tuesday said it and partner Pfizer Inc. aim to seek approval by 2018 for a new type of pain drug that could be an alternative to opioids for osteoarthritis, chronic back pain and cancer pain. The Indianapolis drugmaker said tanezumab, given by injection every eight weeks, could be a far…

Figure 2: The nail bed shows some discoloration.

3 Cases of Glomus Tumor—An Unusual Cause of Hand Pain

Abraham Chaiton, MD, MSc, FRCPC, RhMSUS, & Maggie Larché, MBChB, MRCP, PhD | May 13, 2016

Hand and digit pain are common presenting symptoms to primary care physicians, rheumatologists, physiatrists and neurologists. There are many causes, but quality and location of the pain can be important clues to the diagnosis. Glomus tumors, neurovascular hamartomas of the glomus body, are an uncommon cause of hand pain. The glomus unit itself is a…

OA Knee Pain Treatment Enters Clinical Trials, Ixekizumab Receives FDA Approval & Belimumab Promising for SLE Patients

Michele B. Kaufman, PharmD, BCGP | April 20, 2016

Clinical trials have begun to determine if disodium zoledronate tetrahydrate is safe and effective for treating pain in patients with knee osteoarthritis. The FDA has approved the use of ixekizumab for the treatment of plaque psoriasis. And a study has shown that patients with SLE treated with belimumab may be able to decrease steroid use…

Practicing Mindfulness Can Help Alter Patients’ Experience with Chronic Rheumatic Diseases

C. Ronald MacKenzie, MD | April 15, 2016

Mindfulness is a mental state achieved by focusing one’s awareness on the present moment, while acknowledging and non-judgmentally accepting one’s feelings, thoughts and bodily sensations. Known in Sanskrit as smrti, meaning “to remember,” in Pali, the language of early Buddhist scriptures, it is recognized by the word sati (mindfulness).1 Derived from ancient meditative Buddhist disciplines,…

A Long Way to Go: Treating Pain in Patients with Inflammation

Richard Quinn | April 15, 2016

Subjectivity and the differences in how patients with autoimmune and other diseases perceive pain make the study and treatment of pain difficult. But Yvonne Lee, MD, says future advances in neuroimaging may aid in the objective study of pain and innovative treatments…

2015 ACR/ARHP Annual Meeting: Better Pain Prevention, Treatment Needed for Older Adults

Thomas R. Collins | April 14, 2016

SAN FRANCISCO—A broadening of the medical community’s horizons in how pain is regarded and treated in older adults, including those with osteoarthritis and other rheumatic diseases, is sorely needed, a researcher said at the 2015 ACR/ARHP Annual Meeting. Incidence Studies show that a large percentage of older adults each year see physicians for such issues…

FDA Says It Requires Boxed Warning on Some Opioid-Based Painkillers

Reuters Staff | March 23, 2016

(Reuters)—The U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced on Tuesday new required class-wide safety labeling changes for immediate-release opioid pain medications. Among the changes, the FDA now requires these pain medications to carry a new boxed warning about the serious risks of misuse, abuse, addiction, overdose and death. The FDA also requires several additional safety labeling…

U.S. Agency Issues New Guidelines to Limit Chronic Use of Opioids

Ransdell Pierson | March 18, 2016

(Reuters)—Addressing a growing “epidemic” of opioid overdoses and abuse of the prescribed painkillers in the U.S., the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Tuesday released voluntary guidelines that instruct primary care doctors to sharply deter use of the medicines for chronic pain. “Overprescribing opioids, largely for chronic pain, is a key driver of America’s…

Trying to Parse True Meaning of Pain Can Be Challenging for Rheumatologists

Simon M. Helfgott, MD | March 15, 2016

Discussing aching joints, sore muscles and tender limbs is all in our day’s work. We are rheumatologists; we deal in misery. But trying to parse the true meaning of these terms is among the most vexing of clinical challenges.

Rheumatology Drug Updates: Opioid CR845 for OA Pain; RA Treatments in Development

Michele B. Kaufman, PharmD, BCGP | March 15, 2016

CR845—an oral, peripherally selective kappa opioid agonist—is currently in Phase 2 trials for the treatment of pruritus, and acute and chronic pain.1 Eighty patients with hip osteoarthritis (OA) or knee OA were randomized to receive treatment with 0.25 mg, 0.5 mg, 1.0 mg or 5.0 mg CR845 twice daily for two weeks. Safety assessment, pharmacokinetics…