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Ten of America's largest drug companies are responsible for releasing 76 billion oxycodone and hydrocodone pain pills from 2006 through 2012, according to previously unreleased data obtained by The Washington Post. These companies, including Walgreens, CVS and Walmart, are being sued in federal court by nearly 2,000 cities, towns and counties claiming they plotted to "flood [America] with opioids." Meanwhile, the number of U.S. deaths tied to drug overdoses fell last year for the first time in almost 30 years, according to the CDC.

Physicians treating patients with acute pain should focus on using a multimodal approach that includes medications, nerve blocks, physical therapy and other modalities, according to a federal task force's final report on acute and chronic pain management best practices (PDF) released Thursday. At the same time, doctors treating patients with chronic pain should look to a multidisciplinary approach across various fields. That could include medications, restorative therapies like physical therapy, cognitive therapies and complementary or integrative health.

Ken Hsu, a chemistry professor at the University of Virginia, and his graduate student, Myungsun Shin, has identified an enzyme that "chews up fat" molecules to produce chemical signals that control inflammation. The naturally occurring enzyme, called diacylglycerol lipase-beta, or DAGL-beta, is a possible new drug target for reducing pain. Hsu developed, during his postdoctoral training, selective molecules that inhibit DAGL-beta and reduce inflammation, similarly to aspirin and other non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, or NSAIDS. However, unlike NSAIDs, DAGL-beta inhibitors can provide pain relief without gastrointestinal toxicity in preclinical models when used over a long term. And unlike opioids, DAGL-beta inhibitors do not exhibit addictive properties.

As the opioid crisis take a deadly toll in human lives, the complex needs of patients in chronic pain are also leaving their doctors increasingly exhausted and overwhelmed, a new Western-led study says. In their detailed interviews and clinic observations, researchers found many primary-care physicians are close to burnout in caring for patients in pain. "You are in between a rock and a hard place with this stuff," one doctor said in describing the quandary of prescribing opioids appropriately. "You are a compassionate individual who doesn't want to leave your patients in pain (but) you're also aware that if you continue down this road you run the risk of killing your patient. What an awful dilemma to be in." Other doctors said the crisis is teaching them to be suspicious of patients seeking opioids – leading some to perceive their pain-relief-seeking patients as either addicts or potential addicts.

A jury in Boston has found one-time billionaire and drug company executive John Kapoor and his four co-defendants guilty of a racketeering conspiracy. The verdict came Wednesday after 15 days of deliberation. The federal government accused Kapoor, the founder of Insys Therapeutics, and his co-defendants of running a nationwide bribery scheme. Between 2012 and 2015, Insys allegedly paid doctors to prescribe their potent opioid medication and then lied to insurance companies to ensure the expensive fentanyl-based painkiller was covered. Kapoor is among the highest-ranking pharmaceutical executives to face trial amid a national opioid epidemic. By pursuing this case, the federal government was seen as sending a message that it is holding drug companies accountable for their role in the epidemic.