Opioid Resource Center
Conference Coverage
First target doesn’t affect survival in NSCLC with brain metastases
Patient outcomes didn’t hinge on whether oncologists treated the brain or lung first.
Feature
Physician pleads guilty to 52 counts in opioid scheme
The neuromuscular medicine specialist also admitted to ignoring patient requests to lower dosages and signs that patients were selling prescribed...
Diminutio
Filling opioid prescriptions akin to a Sisyphean task
“Instead of preserving access to desperately needed pain medicine for those suffering with serious illness, states and insurers have aggressively...
Feature
Opioid prescribing mapped: Alabama highest, New York lowest
The Medicare Part D opioid prescribing rate dropped in all 50 states from 2014 to 2019, but disparities remain.
News from the FDA/CDC
EDs saw more benzodiazepine overdoses, but fewer patients overall, in 2020
Fentanyl became increasingly involved in benzodiazepine overdose deaths through the first half of the year.
From the Journals
Opioid prescribing laws having an impact
The number of days an opioid was prescribed for each Medicare beneficiary decreased by 11.6 days in 2018 in states that imposed duration limits....
From the Journals
Sharp decrease in opioid access for dying U.S. cancer patients
There was a 34% reduction in the number of opioid prescriptions filled per patient and a 38% reduction in the total dose of opioids filled near...
Conference Coverage
Pediatric cancer survivors at risk for opioid misuse
Conference Coverage
Rapid relief of opioid-induced constipation with MNTX
Subcutaneously administered, peripherally acting mu-opioid receptor antagonist, relieves opioid-induced constipation in both chronic, noncancer-...
News from the FDA/CDC
Use of nonopioid pain meds is on the rise
Prescription opioid use declined from 2009 to 2018, but not significantly.
Commentary
New York City inpatient detox unit keeps running: Here’s how
BronxCare Health System was able to take in patients with substance use disorders at a time when other detox units were closed.