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Report: Americans are now more likely to die of an opioid overdose than on the road

January 14, 2019 | NPR News

For the first time in U.S. history, a leading cause of deaths, vehicle crashes, has been surpassed in likelihood by opioid overdoses, according to a new report on preventable deaths from the National Safety Council. Americans now have a 1 in 96 chance of dying from an opioid overdose, according to the council's analysis of 2017 data on accidental death. The probability of dying in a motor vehicle crash is 1 in 103. "The nation's opioid crisis is fueling the Council's grim probabilities, and that crisis is worsening with an influx of illicit fentanyl," the council said in a statement released Monday.

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Senate passes legislation to fight opioid epidemic

October 3, 2018 | CNN

The Senate on Wednesday passed legislation intended to combat the opioid epidemic, in a rare moment of unity between Republican and Democratic lawmakers. The legislation was approved by a vote of 98-1 in the Senate and will now head to the White House for President Donald Trump's signature. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell referred to it as "landmark" legislation in remarks on the Senate floor on Wednesday, saying that the bill will bring "relief to American communities that have been decimated by the scourge of substance abuse and addiction."

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FDA pushes for development of non-opioid pain medications

August 29, 2018 | The Washington Post

The Food and Drug Administration is planning new steps to encourage the development of nonaddictive alternatives to opioid pain medications, Commissioner Scott Gottlieb said in an interview. As part of the effort, the agency plans to withdraw its existing 2014 guidance to the drug industry on pain medicines. That document is overly broad, Gottlieb said, and is sometimes a barrier to new products and innovations. The current guidelines call for a large number of studies to get FDA approval for general use for chronic pain, he added. Over the next six to 12 months, the agency plans to issue several documents intended to spur development of medications for specific types of pain. The result should lead to smaller clinical trials, faster approvals and quicker launches of novel therapies, Gottlieb said.

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Abuse-proof opioids floundering despite record overdose rate

August 21, 2018 | Bloomberg

Abuse-proof opioids have an uphill battle ahead before they’re widely used despite potential cost savings and the national push to stem the opioid crisis. To study the long-term effects of ADFs successfully, more patients have to be taking them. But before drug companies can get the medicine to patients, insurers and policymakers say they need data proving ADFs are cost effective to justify prescribing them.

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Doctors raise alarm about shortages of pain medications

July 20, 2018 | NPR News

In hospitals across the country, anesthesiologists and other doctors are facing significant shortages of injectable opioids. Drugs such as morphine, Dilaudid and fentanyl are the mainstays of intravenous pain control and are regularly used in critical care settings like surgery, intensive care units and hospital emergency departments.

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