Morphine News and Research

Latest Morphine News and Research

Viewpoints: Sen. Corker's plan to avoid the 'fiscal cliff'; Romney's brave attempt to deal with health entitlements; Fixing the drug shortage

I have shared with House and Senate leaders as well as the White House a 242-page bill that, along with other agreed-upon cuts that are to be enacted, would produce $4.5 trillion in fiscal reforms and replace sequestration.

27 Nov 2012

AcelRx commences dosing in ARX-04 sufentanil NanoTab Phase 2 study for acute and breakthrough pain

AcelRx Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a specialty pharmaceutical company focused on the development and commercialization of innovative therapies for the treatment of acute and breakthrough pain, today announced that it has dosed the first subjects in a Phase 2, placebo-controlled, dose-finding study of its ARX-04 sufentanil NanoTab product candidate.

5 Nov 2012

Medication at end of life indicates care quality

Medication given to patients at the end of life varies according to whether they are being cared for in a hospice or hospital, and has the potential to indicate the quality of their care, suggest researchers.

24 Oct 2012

FTC votes to approve Watson's acquisition of Actavis

Watson Pharmaceuticals, Inc. today announced that the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has voted to approve Watson's acquisition of the Actavis group of companies.

16 Oct 2012

QRxPharma, Paladin execute licensing agreement for MOXDUO

QRxPharma Limited announced today execution of a licensing agreement with Paladin Labs Inc. for the Canadian commercialisation rights to MOXDUO, a patented, immediate release formulation of morphine and oxycodone.

10 Oct 2012

Morphine inhibits BDNF protein, whereas cocaine enhances BDNF

Chronic morphine exposure has the opposite effect on the brain compared to cocaine in mice, providing new insight into the basis of opiate addiction, according to Mount Sinai School of Medicine researchers. They found that a protein called brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), which is increased in cocaine addiction, is inhibited in opioid addiction. The research is published in the October 5 issue of Science.

8 Oct 2012

New insight into basis of opiate addiction

8 Oct 2012

ProStrakan acquires US commercial rights to Fareston for treatment of metastatic breast cancer

ProStrakan Group plc announces today that it has acquired exclusive US commercial rights to Fareston (toremifene citrate) for the treatment of metastatic breast cancer in postmenopausal women.

1 Oct 2012

Resveratrol can maintain morphine’s pain-relieving effects

Resveratrol—the same natural polyphenol found in red wine—preserves the potent pain-relieving effect of morphine in rats that have developed morphine tolerance, suggests a study in the October issue of Anesthesia & Analgesia, official journal of the International Anesthesia Research Society (IARS).

26 Sep 2012

Researchers discover reliable predictors of pain

Researchers from Mount Sinai School of Medicine have identified reliable predictors of pain by surveying patients throughout their hospital stays about the severity of their pain and their levels of satisfaction with how their pain was managed by hospital staff.

24 Sep 2012

Longer looks: A 'renegade' Bill Frist?; The pharmacist's expanding role

Meet former Sen. Bill Frist, a renegade "Obamacare"-loving Republican who is in the mood for some real bipartisanship. Yes, the same Frist who as Senate majority leader led an army into the culture wars over Terri Schiavo and whose efforts in 2004 to unseat his then-rival, Minority Leader Tom Daschle, led to a nasty - and personal - Washington battle royal. Now, Frist is pushing for a national conversation on end-of-life care and dismissing "caricatured" talk of death panels.

21 Sep 2012

Real-time prescription system reduces inappropriate prescribing of medications

A centralized prescription network providing real-time information to pharmacists in British Columbia, Canada, resulted in dramatic reductions in inappropriate prescriptions for opioid analgesics and benzodiazepines, widely used and potentially addictive drugs. The findings are reported in a study in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal).

5 Sep 2012

Non-pain-related factors predict long-term opioid use after surgery

Non-pain-related factors—including previous use of pain medications, high perceived risk of addiction, and symptoms of depression—increase the risk of continuing to use strong pain-relieving drugs several months after surgery, reports a study in the September issue of Anesthesia & Analgesia, official journal of the International Anesthesia Research Society (IARS).

31 Aug 2012

GWSMHS professor to study correlation between genetics and susceptibility to drug abuse

Norman H. Lee, Ph.D., professor of pharmacology at the George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences (SMHS), received a total of $405,001 in grant funding from the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) to continue to study the correlation between genetics and susceptibility to drug abuse.

30 Aug 2012

Mallinckrodt receives FDA approval for 32 mg tablet strength of EXALGO

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has notified Mallinckrodt, the pharmaceuticals business of Covidien, that it has approved a 32 mg tablet strength of EXALGO (hydromorphone HCI) Extended-Release Tablets (CII) for opioid-tolerant patients with moderate-to-severe chronic pain requiring continuous around-the-clock opioid analgesia for an extended period of time.

27 Aug 2012

AcelRx commences third ARX-01 Phase 3 study in post-operative pain

AcelRx Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a specialty pharmaceutical company focused on the development and commercialization of innovative therapies for the treatment of acute and breakthrough pain, today announced dosing of the first patient in the third of three planned Phase 3 studies for ARX-01, the Sufentanil NanoTab PCA System, its novel sublingual patient-controlled analgesia (PCA) system.

24 Aug 2012

Fizzy tablet is best method to receive fentanyl for cancer pain

Results of a mixed treatment comparison show that fentanyl in the form of an effervescent buccal tablet can better relieve the intensity of breakthrough cancer pain in the first 60 minutes after dosing compared with other fentanyl formulations.

23 Aug 2012

Electronic PMP use may have impact on demand for drug treatment programs, painkiller abuse

A Rhode Island Hospital researcher has found that the use of electronic prescription drug monitoring programs (PMPs) may have a significant impact on the demand for drug treatment programs and how prescribers detect and respond to abuse of painkillers.

17 Aug 2012

U.S. FDA warns of post-surgery codeine deaths in children

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration today issued a Drug Safety Communication concerning three children who died and one child who experienced a non-fatal but life-threatening case of respiratory depression after taking the pain reliever codeine following surgery to remove tonsils (tonsillectomy) and/or adenoids (adenoidectomy).

16 Aug 2012

Brain changes can occur after long-term methadone treatment

Long-term methadone treatment can cause changes in the brain, according to recent studies from the Norwegian Institute of Public Health. The results show that treatment may affect the nerve cells in the brain. The studies follow on from previous studies where methadone was seen to affect cognitive functioning, such as learning and memory.

16 Aug 2012