Farming Hemp May Be Legal Congress just reached an agreement on the 2018 Farm Bill that could make farming hemp in the United States legal for the first time in nearly a century. The legislation has had bipartisan support. Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR) is a cosponsor of the legislation. It has been a major goal…
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A Painful Proposal Unfortunately, according to the Portland Business Journal, the scaled-back Oregon opioid proposal has moved closer to reality. The Task Force has taken a very harsh position for prescribing opioids to control pain in the Medicaid population. Potentially, the proposal could hurt 1 million Oregonians who are in that position. Response to Oregon…
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Federally-Funded Research Might Someday Be Free A New Scientist article by Graham Lawton predicts that, by January 1, 2030, all biomedical research will be free to read. That might be an overly ambitious goal. It might not be a good idea, either. If research is federally funded, then perhaps — as Boingboing suggests — the…
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Senator Ed Markey of MA Opposed DSUVIA According to a recent USA Today article, Senator Ed Markey of Massachusetts “urged the FDA not to approve Dsuvia last month, saying “an opioid that is a thousand times more powerful than morphine is a thousand times more likely to be abused, and a thousand times more likely to…
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Medicare Rule Will Create New Challenges for Chronic Pain Patients Jacob Sullum recently wrote an article, “Medicare Rule Will Create New Challenges for Chronic Pain Patients,” for Practical Pain Management about the ways in which the pending Medicare changes will adversely affect chronic pain patients. As he explains, the new Medicare rule is intended to…
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What’s Next? Midterms are behind us. You may be pleased or displeased with the results. Either way, the newly elected, and the reelected, senators and members of congress will now determine healthcare policy. They will take office in January. In the meantime, do your homework. When you’re worried that your doctor might be pressured to…
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Vote to Change Healthcare Policies Mid-term elections are approaching. If you have the ability to vote, then this is a chance to help determine the direction of our healthcare policies. There are many issues important to each of us. To people who follow my blog, the most important healthcare issues have to do with how…
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SUPPORT for Patients and Communities Act President Donald Trump signed the bi-partisan opioid legislation on October 24. According to Vox, the Substance Use Disorder Prevention that Promotes Opioid Recovery and Treatment (SUPPORT) for Patients and Communities Act “is a big breakthrough that will boost access to addiction treatment and many other interventions to mitigate the…
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Below is an edited excerpt from a chapter titled, Pharmacogenetics and Personalized Medicine in Pain Management, that Inna Belfer, MD PhD and I published in Clinics in Laboratory Medicine, Volume 36, Issue 3, September 2016. Personalized Pain Medicine Pharmacogenetic therapy in people with pain requires consideration of 2 different genetic substrates to determine the outcome…
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On Friday, Oct. 12, 2018, AcelRex Pharmaceuticals, Inc. presented its case to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Anesthetic and Analgesic Drug Products Advisory Committee (ADCOM) to discuss the approval of the new drug application (NDA) 209128 for DSUVIA™. DSUVIA is a small sufentanil pill deposited below the tongue with an applicator. It is…
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