Morphine News and Research

Latest Morphine News and Research

Unique pain program helps surgical patients wean off opioids safely and effectively

A unique pain program is helping complex surgical patients wean off opioids safely and effectively, while offering alternative ways to cope with their pain and improve how they function.

20 Aug 2018

Illicit drug use is higher during celebratory events, may be worse than previously thought

America's drug problem may be even worse than officials realize. And illicit drugs are consumed at a higher rate during celebratory events. Those are just two of the conclusions scientists have drawn from recent studies of drug residues in sewage.

20 Aug 2018

Babies dependent on opioids need touch, not tech

Dr. Jodi Jackson has worked for years to address infant mortality in Kansas. Often, that means she treats newborns in a high-tech neonatal intensive care unit with sophisticated equipment whirring and beeping. And that is exactly the wrong place for an infant like Lili.

20 Aug 2018

How rival opioid makers sought to cash in on alarm over oxycontin’s dangers

As Purdue Pharma faced mounting criticism over deaths linked to OxyContin, rival drugmakers saw a chance to boost sales by stepping up marketing of similarly dangerous painkillers, such as fentanyl, morphine and methadone, Purdue internal documents reveal.

2 Aug 2018

Patients with chronic pain feel caught in an opioid-prescribing debate

It started with a rolled ankle during a routine Army training exercise. Shannon Hubbard never imagined it was the prologue to one of the most debilitating pain conditions known to exist, called complex regional pain syndrome.

1 Aug 2018

Study shows spillover effect of evidence-based opioid prescribing for major procedures

To curb the use of opioids after major elective operations and prevent these pain relievers from falling into the wrong hands, surgeons at the University of Michigan developed prescribing recommendations based on published medical evidence for one operation, gall bladder removal, and then discovered a spillover effect that led them to prescribe roughly 10,000 fewer pills for other major operations, according to study results appearing as an "article in press" on the website of the Journal of the American College of Surgeons ahead of print.

27 Jul 2018

Common opioid-based painkillers increase harmful side effects in people with dementia

Commonly-prescribed opioid-based painkillers led to harmful side effects tripling in people with dementia.

24 Jul 2018

What a U.S.-China trade war could mean for the opioid epidemic

The American struggle to curb opioid addiction could become collateral damage in President Donald Trump's showdown on trade.

6 Jul 2018

New approach paves way for electrochemical synthesis of opium alkaloids

Researchers at Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz have mastered a nearly 50-year-old challenge of electrosynthetic chemistry, namely the electrochemical synthesis of thebaine.

30 Jun 2018

Heroin could could help patients with narcolepsy

A new study has found that users of heroin have high levels of a brain chemical called hypocretin. This hypocretin leads to “wakefulness” among the users and understanding this could help patients with narcolepsy.

29 Jun 2018

Study provides clues to how cancer cells develop resistance to chemotherapies

About half of all drugs, ranging from morphine to penicillin, come from compounds that are from-;or have been derived from-;nature. This includes many cancer drugs, which are toxic enough to kill cancer cells.

22 Jun 2018

How America got hooked on a deadly drug

Purdue Pharma left almost nothing to chance in its whirlwind marketing of its new painkiller OxyContin.

13 Jun 2018

Research reveals potential new treatment for drug addiction relapse

Research published in Addiction Biology by scientists at the University of Bath reveals a new potential mechanism for combatting drug addiction relapse.

12 Jun 2018

Single spinal injection reverses chemotherapy-induced pain for months in mice

Researchers at University of California San Diego School of Medicine have found a new way to block a root cause of pain. The key is a naturally occurring protein called apolipoprotein A-I binding protein (AIBP). AIBP binds to toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4), a protein that sits on the surface of cells like an antenna, searching for signs of infection or tissue damage.

29 May 2018

Early discharge of infants with neonatal abstinence syndrome may prolong their treatment, shows study

Infants who are diagnosed with drug withdrawal after birth who are treated with medication as outpatients at home are treated three times longer than infants treated solely as inpatients, according to a new Vanderbilt study

10 May 2018

Walmart announces new regulations for filling opioid prescriptions

Walmart, at the beginning of this week announced regulations regarding filling opioid prescriptions in its own in-store and Sam’s pharmacies. The company as part of its Opioid Stewardship Initiative has vowed to curb not only opioid addictions but also prevent their overdosages and prevent the over-prescription of opioids by doctors.

9 May 2018

ASA survey: Drug shortages impact care for patients undergoing anesthesia

A national drug shortage crisis is potentially affecting the care received every day for thousands of patients undergoing anesthesia.

25 Apr 2018

Special recovery program for thoracic surgery patients decreases healthcare costs and opioid use

A special recovery program for thoracic surgery patients developed and implemented at the University of Virginia Health System is getting patients home sooner while decreasing both healthcare costs and opioid use, a review of the first year of the program shows.

24 Apr 2018

New compound could offer pain-relieving properties without risk of addiction

Researchers at the University of Michigan have engineered a new compound that animal tests suggest could offer the pain-relieving properties of opioids such as morphine and oxycodone without the risk of addiction.

24 Apr 2018