One in five U.S. citizens experience chronic pain, and unfortunately with this pain comes with prescriptions to highly addictive opioids, This conversation hasn’t been as prominent with all the discussions primarily focusing on coronavirus.
New York -
The founder of Insys Therapeutics on Thursday became the first head of a major US pharmaceutical to be convicted of bribing doctors to prescribe addictive painkillers blamed for fueling an opioid crisis that has claimed tens of thousands of lives.
Vienna -
A UN's anti-drug body added carfentanil, a synthetic substance estimated to be thousands of times more potent than morphine, to its list of controlled substances on Wednesday.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has launched a competition for app developers to come up with software to address the growing epidemic of opioid overdose.
Kyodo -
Prosecutors in Tokyo plan to release Julie Hamp, a former Toyota Motor Corp. executive, from custody on Wednesday. Hamp was arrested last month on suspicion of illegally importing Oxycodone, a painkiller, into Japan.
Washington -
Opioid medications are commonly used among women of reproductive age. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has warned that taking these medications early in pregnancy can increase the risk for some birth defects.
A Canadian study led by Toronto-based scientist Tara Gomes reports that the increased use of opiate pain medications is responsible for 1 out of 8 deaths among young people in 2010.
Toronto -
Ontario Health Minister Deb Matthews and Minister of Aboriginal Affairs Kathleen Wynne announced in Toronto on Wednesday of a new $15 million program to address the problem of prescription drug addiction in the province.
