prescription painkillers

The state of Alabama is suing Purdue Pharma LP, the maker of OxyContin, for allegedly fueling the opioid crisis by deceiving doctors about prescription painkillers.

Alabama Targets OxyContin Maker Purdue Pharma In Opioid Suit

4:02pm February 07, 2018

by Samantha Raphelson

Alabama is one of several states, including Ohio and Mississippi, and municipalities filing suit against opioid manufacturers over deceptive marketing of prescription painkillers.

George Patterson is one of the volunteers who run Phoenix's only syringe exchange program, a mobile program called Shot in the Dark.

Fight The Opioid Epidemic, All Agree. But Strategies Vary Widely

11:47am December 19, 2017

by Will Stone

Officials across Arizona agree that the state must solve its growing opioid problem. But some people fear that several strategies under consideration encourage drug use.

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Third-year students at the Harvard School of Dental Medicine learn how to trim crowns and prep a tooth for a crown. They're also learning to deal with the aftereffects, studying alternatives to opioids for pain relief.

Dental Schools Add An Urgent Lesson: Think Twice About Prescribing Opioids

7:20pm September 08, 2017

Opioid painkillers prescribed by dentists have helped fuel the nation's addiction epidemic. Dental schools are teaching the next generation of dentists that there are other ways to treat pain.

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A 1980 letter published in the New England Journal of Medicine was later widely cited as evidence that long-term use of opioid painkillers such as oxycodone was safe, even though the letter did not back up that claim.

Doctor Who Wrote 1980 Letter On Painkillers Regrets That It Fed The Opioid Crisis

4:44pm June 16, 2017

In 1980, Dr. Hershel Jick wrote a one-paragraph letter about low rates of addiction among hospitalized patients given narcotics. It was later cited as evidence that long-term opioid use was safe.

The maker of a medical treatment for opioid abuse has successfully lobbied statehouses around the country to pass policies that sway addiction treatment practices in favor of the company's drug.

A Drugmaker Tries To Cash In On The Opioid Epidemic, One State Law At A Time

9:32pm June 12, 2017

by Jake Harper

The maker of one medical treatment for opioid abuse has successfully lobbied statehouses around the country to pass policies that tilt addiction treatment practices in favor of the company's drug.

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Opana ER, a potent extended-release opioid, was approved by the FDA for pain management in 2006. But the agency says Endo's attempts to reformulate the pills to make them harder to crush, dissolve and inject have not been successful.

FDA Calls On Drugmaker To Pull A Powerful Opioid Off The Market

8:56pm June 08, 2017

by Rob Stein

The Food and Drug Administration says abuse of the painkiller Opana ER has fueled an outbreak of HIV, hepatitis C and a serious blood disorder, though it was reformulated to try to reduce abuse.

Tops to prescription bottles are pictured inside the Wal-Mart pharmacy.

Cherokee Nation Sues Wal-Mart, CVS, Walgreens Over Tribal Opioid Crisis

8:58pm April 25, 2017

by Nate Hegyi

The tribe says these companies regularly filled large, suspicious prescriptions within the Nation's 14 counties in northeastern Oklahoma, leading to hundreds of tribal members' deaths.