Starting in June, all prescribers registered with the Drug Enforcement Agency must complete a one-time, eight-hour training on treating and managing patients with opioid or substance use disorders.
How to Address Opioid Abuse with Patients
More than half of regular opioid users suffer from arthritis. Here are three tips to talk to your patients about opioid use and alternative pain management…
What’s In the Rheum? The ACR/ARP Annual Meeting’s Latest Engaging Session Format
Designed in the TED Talk style, In the Rheum sessions will feature the hottest topics and biggest scientific takeaways for rheumatology using a shorter, more casual approach during the 2019 ACR/ARP Annual Meeting…
Beyond Addiction: Medical Therapy for Addiction May Benefit Medical Adherence
Treating patients with rheumatic disease for their addictions will also encourage patients to address their overall health conditions, resulting in better medical adherence…
Clinicians’ Use of ‘Safer’ Opioid-Prescribing Practices Spotty
NEW YORK (Reuters Health)—Many U.S. clinicians aren’t following risk-mitigation practices for opioid prescribing, new findings show. “In response to this national opioid crisis, consensus-based safer opioid prescribing guidelines have been published and state laws regulating opioid prescribing practices have been enacted,” Daniel P. Alford, MD, of Boston University School of Medicine, and colleagues write in…
Canada Approves Erelzi for PsA; Plus FDA Moves to Increase Access to Naloxone
Health Canada has approved Erelzi, which is biosimilar to Enbrel (etanercept), for treating psoriatic arthritis in adults…
Pfizer-Lilly Pain Drug Meets Late-Stage Trial Goals
(Reuters)—An experimental osteoarthritis drug developed by Pfizer Inc and Eli Lilly and Co achieved its main goal of lowering pain in a late stage trial, the companies said on Wednesday, potentially offering a safer alternative to opioids. Opioid abuse has reached epidemic proportions in the United States and drugmakers have been looking for less addictive…
Opioid Makers Paid Millions to Advocacy Groups
(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…
U.S. Lets More Healthcare Workers Prescribe Opioid Addiction Treatment
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…
Kentucky Accuses McKesson of Helping Fuel the Opioid Epidemic
(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…