Ask Janet
A friend of mine named Ed Silverman writes a blog called Pharmalot and posts timely tidbits about the pharmaceutical industry and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Ed recently wrote about a new...
View ArticleLiving with Pain: Pharmacy Price Gouging in Florida
If you were in chronic pain and needed oxycodone, how much would you be willing to spend for a vial of the painkiller? A hundred and forty dollars? Eight hundred? How about $1,250? Those were the...
View ArticleThe Government’s War on Pain Doctors Revisited
Editor’s Note: Linda Cheek is a family practice and alternative medicine physician in southwest Virginia. In February, Cheek wrote a column for American News Report discussing her efforts to treat...
View ArticleFDA Tells Drug Makers to Stop Selling Unapproved Oxycodone
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has notified some pharmaceutical companies to stop manufacturing and distributing unapproved drugs that contain oxycodone, a widely prescribed and potentially...
View ArticleShould Children Take Opioid Painkillers?
Two new studies are drawing attention to a sensitive topic in the pain community: Should children be given powerful and potentially addictive opioid analgesics to relieve their pain? According to...
View ArticleFDA: Pain Education for Doctors to be Voluntary
The Food and Drug Administration has unveiled a long awaited plan to address prescription drug abuse – a plan that focuses on educating doctors about the benefits and risks of prescribing powerful...
View ArticleNew OxyContin Formula Has Many Abusers Switching to Heroin
A change in the formula for the powerful painkiller OxyContin – designed to make the drug less likely to be abused — may be encouraging the use of more dangerous drugs. Many abusers are switching from...
View ArticlePain Doc Duped by Dog X-Rays
An undercover sheriff’s deputy pretending to be a patient duped a southern California physician into giving her a powerful pain medication by showing him X-rays of an injured back and neck. Dr. Rolando...
View ArticleAre Painkiller Sales Falling?
Sales of OxyContin and other popular painkillers in the U.S. have declined in the past year, according to pharmaceutical sales data released by a clinical drug website. But it’s not clear if the drop...
View ArticleBill Would Force Drug Makers to Make Painkillers Tamper Resistant
A bipartisan effort in Congress to make more opioid painkillers tamper resistant could also make generic forms of the drugs more costly, according to experts. Rep. Mary Bono Mack (R-California) and...
View ArticleNew Addiction Treatment Drug Could Be Alternative to Suboxone
A Swedish pharmaceutical company says it will soon seek approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for a new medication to treat opioid dependency. Two clinical trials have been completed on...
View ArticleCaught in the Crossfire: Florida’s Seniors
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the population of Florida is 19,057,542. Of that number, a whopping 17.6% are 65 or older. That is a staggering number of seniors, many of whom have health problems...
View ArticleDoctors Say Methadone Too Risky for Pain Management
Methadone is increasingly being used by physicians to manage chronic pain, but it is a risky drug to prescribe as a pain reliever, according to an article published in the Journal of the American...
View ArticleWest and Southeast Lead Nation in Opioid Prescribing
The western, southeast and Appalachian regions of the United States lead the nation in the prescribing of opioid painkillers, according to new research published in The Journal of Pain. In a study of...
View ArticleNew Wave of Drug Abuse Feared if Generic Oxycodone Sold in Canada
Canadian police, doctors and public health officials are warning the “streets would be flooded” with cheap generic versions of oxycodone if Canada’s Health Minister doesn’t reconsider her decision not...
View ArticleU.S. Fears Flood of Generic Canadian Oxycodone
U.S. drug officials are preparing for a flood of generic Canadian oxycodone to make its way across the border after the Canadian government recently approved six generic versions of the widely abused...
View ArticleFDA Blocks Generic OxyContin
The Food and Drug Administration late today approved new labeling for the painkiller OxyContin that allows Purdue Pharma to maintain its monopoly on the drug by blocking cheaper generic versions from...
View ArticlePfizer to Continue Developing New Oxycodone Formula
Pfizer Inc. isn’t throwing in the towel just yet on its experimental painkiller Remoxy, an extended release formulation of oxycodone that has been held up for years because of regulatory concerns. The...
View ArticleOxycodone and Hydrocodone Most Popular Among Opioid Abusers
Oxycodone and hydrocodone are the “drugs of choice” for abusers of opioid pain medication, according to a new survey of thousands of opioid addicts entering drug treatment programs across the United...
View ArticleFDA Approves Oxycodone with Abuse Deterrent
The Food and Drug Administration has approved a new extended release version of oxycodone with an abuse deterrent formula. The drug, which will be marketed by Purdue Pharma under the brand name...
View Article
