The FDA allowed patients with ailments like back pain and migraines to be prescribed fentanyl drugs intended for cancer patients with high opioid tolerance.The class of drugs, 50 times stronger than heroin and up to 100 times stronger than morphine, put patients at risk of…
The good news is that opioid use disorder diagnoses in the US declined from 6.2 cases per 1,000 patients in 2016 to 5.9 in 2017, according to Blue Cross medical claims—and opioid prescriptions fell nearly 30% from 2013 to 2017.
Taking drug makers to court, cracking down on traffickers, supervised injection sites—this is how the US is tackling the opioid crisis. What’s woefully absent? “More and better treatment”—a glaring need that is being bypassed by Congress, governors and journalists alike,…
Toronto’s top medical official wants Canada to decriminalize drugs as part of its strategy to tackle a spiraling opioid crisis.
Opioid-related deaths in 2017 will likely tally at an all-time high of 49,000, according to the CDC's new report that notes deaths linked to fentanyl and similar compounds nearly doubled between July 2016 and June 2017.
As drug-resistant superbugs become a growing concern across the globe, Novartis has become the latest pharma giant to pull out of antibiotics. The Swiss outfit announced yesterday that its antibacterial and antiviral research programs will be dropped, Endpoints News…
Over the past decade, opportunities for students and trainees to travel internationally have grown substantially. Universities and non-profit organizations offer a variety of short-and long-term opportunities for global health research, practice, and cultural experience.…
“Wastewater epidemiology” may be key to addressing America’s opioid crisis—but only if officials can accept the down-and-dirty results. Massachusetts-based Biobot Analytics uses water-sampling robots to analyze traces of opioids in sewer systems. The robots identify…
Post-partum hemorrhage kills about 70,000 women annually, but a newly formulated drug could save thousands, a WHO-led study determined. Oxytocin has been the first-choice drug to prevent excessive bleeding after childbirth. The catch: it must be stored and transported at 2…
The White House wants to slash the ranks of the uniformed public health corps by 40%—reducing the corps of 6500 doctors, nurses, engineers and others to 4000. The administration would replace members of the U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps with civilians who…
