Articles related to OPIOIDS

According to a University of Washington research, only 40% of rural counties nationally had at least one licensed physician who could prescribe buprenorphine in 2016. The analysis discovered that by 2020, that number had increased to 63%. The increase was attributed by the study to modifications in federal regulations that permit NPs, PAs, and other healthcare professionals to prescribe buprenorphine. Only doctors could perform this in the past, and many remote counties lacked any. In 2002, Suboxone received approval from federal regulators, providing a new option for addiction treatment in communities without methadone facilities. Marshalltown, a town of 27,000 people encircled by rural areas, offers a feasible alternative, according to Andrea Storjohann, NP.

This neurology news roundup from MedPage Today includes four highlights of note: First, a JAMA Internal Medicine article pointing out that gabapentin will not solve the opioid crisis in the US. Second, ublituximab, approved for relapsing MS at the end of December, has been included in the Institute for Clinical and Economic Review’s report on comparative effectiveness. Third, the same organization says that the newly approved Alzheimer’s drug lecanemab will need to be priced below $21,000 per year to be cost effective. And finally, a link to Neurology‘s crystal ball view into neurology education in the coming decade.

According to a news release from study lead author Colin Haile, a research associate professor of psychology at UH and the Texas Institute for Measurement, Evaluation and Statistics (TIMES) and a founding member of the UH Drug Discovery Institute, “Our vaccine is able to generate anti-fentanyl antibodies that bind to the consumed fentanyl and prevent it from entering the brain, allowing it to be eliminated out of the body via the kidneys.” The person won’t experience the euphoric benefits as a result, and they can “get back on the wagon” to sobriety.

A double-blind, placebo-controlled randomized clinical trial including people with COPD and chronic breathlessness was conducted at 20 Australian medical centers. One-hundred sixty participants were randomized to oral extended-release morphine versus placebo. The change in the intensity of worst breathlessness at week 1 was not significantly different between the morphine group and the placebo group.

In this cohort study of insurance data over an 18-year period covering more than 15,000 pregnancies that involved methadone or buprenoprine use, buprenorphine in pregnancy was associated with a lower risk of adverse neonatal outcomes versus methadone use. However, the risk of adverse maternal outcomes was similar.

By 2018, gabapentin and opioids were prescribed in an overlapping manner in 7.6% of prescriptions. Prescribers are likely responding to restrictions on opioid prescribing put in place during the opioid epidemic. Increased co-prescribing was most frequently done under the direction of a pain specialist. Still, the effectiveness of the concurrent prescribing of opioids and gabapentin is uncertain and potentially dangerous because of an association with all-cause and drug-related hospitalizations.