With the aid of increasingly sophisticated neuroimaging technology, research into how the brain activates and changes in patients with chronic pain is delivering fascinating information that will hopefully pave the way to tailored, individual treatment of chronic pain. Over the past several years, data from neuroimaging studies have provided a new understanding of what occurs…
SAN DIEGO—During a session at the ACR/ARHP 2017 Annual Meeting Nov. 3–8, three representatives from the federal government described several of the government’s varied national strategies and agencies that are tackling pain. All of these strategies are affected by the current national epidemic of opioid overdoses and the need for safer analgesic prescribing. But the…
SAN DIEGO—What does cannabis offer to the treatment and management of rheumatology patients and the range of pain states they experience? What do we really know about its long-term effects? These are hard questions to answer with currently available data and a reality nuanced by complications cannabis advocates don’t always recognize, according to two experts…
(Reuters)—Five opioid manufacturers, including OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma LP, have paid more than $10 million to advocacy groups and doctors tied to them, many of whom amplified industry messages supporting the use of the painkillers, a U.S. Senate report said on Monday.1 The report, released by Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.), says groups who received the…
WASHINGTON (Reuters)—The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration said on Tuesday it had changed a regulation to allow more healthcare professionals to prescribe a medication used to treat opioid addiction, opening up access in rural America where there are few doctors.1 Prior to 2000, only physicians could treat those with opioid addiction and had to register with…
(Reuters)—Delaware on Friday became the latest state to file a lawsuit accusing corporations of helping fuel the national opioid epidemic, suing a wide range of companies involved in making, distributing and selling prescription painkillers.1 The lawsuit, filed by Delaware Attorney General Matt Denn in a state court, targeted drugmakers Purdue Pharma LP and Endo International…
(Reuters)—Kentucky’s attorney general on Monday accused drug distributor McKesson Corp. of helping fuel the opioid epidemic by failing to halt shipments of suspiciously large or frequent orders by pharmacies of prescription painkillers. The complaint by Kentucky Attorney General Andy Beshear was filed in a state court and was one of a flurry of lawsuits by…
SAN DIEGO—Rheumatologists who treat lupus patients gleaned tips on diagnosis and management of renal disease, painful neuropathies and alopecia at a “Curbside Consults” session held Nov. 6 at the ACR/ARHP Annual Meeting in San Diego. Membranous Lupus Nephritis Patients with refractory membranous lupus nephritis (MLN), or Class V lupus nephritis, face “significant morbidity, most of…
(Reuters Health)—Prescriptions for nerve pain medicines like Neurontin and Lyrica have more than tripled in recent years, driven by increased use among chronically ill older adults and patients already taking opioids, a U.S. study suggests. The proportion of U.S. adults prescribed Neurontin and other drugs in the same family of medicines climbed from 1.2% in…
NEW YORK (Reuters)—Life expectancy in the United States dipped in 2016 as the number of deaths due to opioid drug overdoses surged and total drug overdose deaths rose 21% to 63,600, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said on Thursday. Life expectancy fell to 78.6 years, a decrease of 0.1 year from 2015,…