Don’t Lose Sleep Over It

sleep medication

Black box warnings may be alarming. However, they are not meant to scare you into panicking and discontinuing medication that you need. Their primary purpose is to inform prescribers and patients about dangers they may pose.

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Is Fentanyl a Weapon of Mass Destruction?

weapons of mass destruction

However, before we classify the chemical fentanyl as a WMD, we need to know what that would mean for its legitimate use during surgery, or for cancer and chronic pain patients. Access to the medication for the treatment of pain must be part of the calculus in assessing if a relatively safe and effective drug should be classified as a WMD.

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Oregon’s Proposed Tapering Policy Is Still Undecided

Oregon's Proposed Policy

Forced Tapering Proposal On March 14, 2019, the Oregon Health Authority Health Evidence Review Commission (HERC) had planned to vote on a proposal that could affect thousands of Medicaid patients in Oregon. The proposal would limit Medicaid coverage of opioids to 90 days for chronic pain patients. Those who have been using opioids for more…

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My Testimony Before the ADCOM for AcelRex’s DSUVIA

ADCOM

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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Breaking Bad 2018

TV’s Hit Show “Breaking Bad” Glamorized Meth Abuse The television hit show, Breaking Bad, lionized the idea of making and selling meth. A high school teacher who was dying of lung cancer wanted to leave his family enough funds to live, and he chose drug dealing as a way to achieve his goal. The show…

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Black Box Warnings

Black Box Warnings

  How Drugs Receive FDA Approval The Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) Center for Drug Evaluation and Research (CDER) is the watchdog agency that’s responsible for testing new medications before they are approved. Drug manufacturers seek approval from the FDA after they have conducted numerous clinical trials and submitted all of their data to the…

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