Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Term 'Opioid Epidemic' May Hinder Efforts As Two Distinct Drug Addictions Plague U.S.
Heroin deaths are largely concentrated across New England and the Midwest, and heroin victims tend to be young men in their 20s and early 30s. By contrast, prescription opioids are killing people all across the country, especially people aged 45-54 and including a substantial number of women. (Horowitz, 5/2)
Until now, it鈥檚 been hard to see how, exactly, heroin and prescription opioids were interacting, since almost all available data lump them together under the heading of 鈥渙pioids.鈥 But a Globe examination of the information in death certificates from 1999 to 2014 reveals the increasingly toxic interplay between the drugs, both at the state level and in individual counties. (Horowitz, 5/2)
In other news of the crisis, doctors, researchers and drugmakers focus attention on treating addiction, the FDA mulls new training requirements for providers prescribing pain killers, and media outlets provide coverage of the issue out of Florida and Ohio聽鈥
He was 40 years old, a father of three and an Orlando house painter, clean and sober for eight years. One night last summer, he climbed into his truck, stuck a needle in his arm and injected himself with what would be his final dose of heroin. "The paramedics worked on him for a long time. and when they declared him dead, he was still clutching his last bag of the drug in his fist," says Pastor Spence Pfleiderer. "That's the power of addiction." ... Despite decades of public-awareness ads to "Just Say No," the nation still has little to show in the battle to overcome addiction. In fact, the American Society of Addiction Medicine reports a "staggering rise" in the problem, particularly with heroin. (Santich, 4/24)
While addiction treatment providers are increasingly recommending that medication be used to help wean people off opioids, some doctors are concerned there is now too much of a focus on medication and not enough on the harder work of long-term recovery from substance use disorder. During the annual American Society of Addiction Medicine conference in Baltimore last month, a frequently heard statistic was that every 20 minutes someone in the U.S. dies from an opioid overdose. (Becker, 5/2)
Two companies are on the cusp of taking a new treatment for opioid addiction to the U.S. market at a time when lawmakers are seeking ways to arrest an epidemic of heroin and painkiller abuse that kills 78 Americans every day. Titan Pharmaceuticals Inc and privately owned Braeburn Pharmaceuticals have together developed a matchstick-sized implant that analysts expect will be approved next month, despite mixed reviews. (Grover, 4/29)
The Food and Drug Administration is reconsidering whether doctors who prescribe painkillers like OxyContin should be required to take safety training courses, according to federal documents. The review comes as regulators disclosed that the number of doctors who completed voluntary training programs is less than half that targeted by the agency. (Perrone, 4/29)
William Logan Kennedy, a chronic drug abuser who cycled in and out of Miami jails, died last year slumped over his bed in an Overtown home. Next to him: a syringe and a bag of what was suspected to be heroin. It wasn't. Instead, toxicologists determined this year, the 49-year-old handyman succumbed to a more dangerous and potent painkiller called fentantyl -- a synthetic narcotic often peddled to unknowing users as heroin. (Ovalle and Weaver, 4/29)
The Ohio Bureau of Workers' Compensation continues to move forward in its battle against opioid addiction among injured workers, announcing proposed guidelines that address how doctors treat patients in pain, as well as those who become reliant on the drugs. (Kurtzman, 4/30)
