Painkillers

Stories

12 Stories

May 2008
- Court Tosses $32M Verdict Against Vioxx
  
  Wall Street Journal | May 14, 08 1:29 PM CDT
  
  (Newser) - A Texas appellate court threw out a $32 million verdict against Merck today, citing a lack of evidence that Vioxx contributed to a man’s fatal heart attack. Lionel Garza was taking the painkiller when he died in 2001 at age 71, but was also a smoker with high blood pressure and high cholesterol, the Wall Street Journal reports. The Garza case was decided by verdict in 2006, and was excluded from a recent $4.85 billion settlement for 27,000 Vioxx cases. More »
January 2008
- Minorities Denied Potent Painkillers, Study Finds
  
  Reuters | Jan 2, 08 4:14 AM CST
  
  (Newser) - Minority patients are less likely than white patients to receive powerful painkillers in hospital emergency rooms, a new study has found. Researchers discovered that 31% of white people in pain were given opioid drugs—narcotic painkillers like morphine and codeine—while Hispanic patients got them 24% of the time and blacks 23%. Overall, prescriptions for opioids have increased 14% since 1993. More »
October 2007
- Hot Sauce Could Be the New Morphine
  
  Associated Press | Oct 30, 07 11:09 AM CDT
  
  (Newser) - Doctors think they have a hot lead on an alternative to opioid pain killers like morphine: chili peppers. California-based researchers are dripping what is essentially a sterile version of hot sauce—containing capsaicin, the chemical that gives peppers their bite—directly into open wounds during surgery. Just like biting into a pepper, it burns at first, the AP explains, but then numbness sets in—for days. More »
- Acupuncture Reduces Post-Op Pain: Studies
  
  Reuters | Oct 17, 07 10:38 AM CDT
  
  (Newser) - Acupuncture before or during surgery can reduce post-operative pain, researchers have found. Patients who received the nontraditional treatment reported less pain after various surgeries, needed less pain medication and suffered fewer side effects from the medication they took, according to 15 clinical studies reviewed by the team. "The use of acupuncture is still very under-appreciated," said the lead researcher. More »
September 2007
- Even Fake Acupuncture Best for Back Pain
  
  Associated Press | Sep 25, 07 3:24 AM CDT
  
  (Newser) - Acupuncture has a far better success rate than other treatments for patients with chronic lower back pain, and fake acupuncture is nearly as effective as the real thing, a new study has found. Normal medical treatment produced significant improvement in 24% of people, while 47% of acupuncture patients felt better, as did 44% of those who got a sham version of the procedure. More »
- Painkiller Is Denied to Poor
  
  New York Times | Sep 10, 07 10:08 AM CDT
  
  (Newser) - Though morphine is cheap, effective, and widely available, most people sufferering extreme pain don't get it, the New York Times reports. The poorest 80% of the world’s population consumes only 6% of the pain-killer . Why? Because health care workers in poor countries are afraid to prescribe morphine, or not allowed to. "Opiod phobia" is what one hospice chief in Sierra Leone calls it. More »
August 2007
- Americans Double Use of Pain Meds
  
  Associated Press | Aug 20, 07 9:40 AM CDT
  
  (Newser) - Retail sales of five major painkillers rose a whopping 90% from 1997 to 2005, a new AP analysis of DEA statistics shows. The increase is driven by Oxycodone, the chemical used in OxyContin, which has seen sales increase nearly 600%. Causes include an aging population, huge new drug marketing campaigns, and an increased willingness by doctors to prescribe the meds. More »
- Moms Warned of Codeine Risk in Breast Milk
  
  Washington Post | Aug 18, 07 8:46 AM CDT
  
  (Newser) - The Federal Food and Drug Administration has warned nursing mothers using codeine to be on the lookout for any signs of unusual drowsiness in their babies. A significant number of women have a gene that can concentrate high levels of the painkiller in their breast milk. Last year, a Canadian newborn died of a morphine overdose traced to a mother with the gene. More »
- US Attorney Targeted After DoJ Brushoff
  
  Washington Post | Aug 1, 07 7:00 PM CDT
  
  (Newser) - A US attorney testified yesterday that he found himself on a firings list after rebuffing DoJ pressure to slow a case—on the eve of a guilty plea. The Post reports a Justice higher-up urged John Brownlee to stall proceedings against the manufacturer of an addictive painkiller hours before it entered a $635 million plea agreement. More »
May 2007
- OxyContin Maker Pleads Guilty
  
  Associated Press | May 10, 07 12:01 PM CDT
  
  (Newser) - The company that makes OxyContin pleaded guilty today to misleading the public about the effects of the potent painkiller. Purdue Pharma and three executives will pay $634.5 million in civil and criminal fines. Federal prosecutors accused the firm of "misbranding" the drug, marketing it as a less addictive alternative to traditional pain meds although no evidence supported the claim. More »
- FDA Given New Muscle To Monitor Drugs
  
  New York Times | May 10, 07 5:41 AM CDT
  
  (Newser) - The Food and Drug Administration would be given sweeping new powers to order drug recalls, regulate advertising and mandate changes in labels under a bill passed by the Senate yesterday. The bill signals a fundamental shift in the FDA's role, the New York Times reports, requiring the agency to track drugs after, as well as before, approval. More »
April 2007
- Ouch—Doc's Trial Highlights Pain Issues
  
  New York Times | Apr 24, 07 2:30 PM CDT
  
  (Newser) - The drug-trafficking trial of a Virginia pain specialist demonstrates the slippery slope between treating chronic conditions and enabling addicts. Dr. William Hurwitz's jury heard the story of a patient with deblitating migraines who had been treated with anxiety medication that actually caused headaches—by another doctor who happened to be an expert witness for the prosecution. More »