Is FDA Commissioner Realizing That America ’s War on Opioids Has Become a War on Patients?

In a May 14  blog post, Food and Drug Commissioner Scott Gottlieb expressed concern about the effect the  nation ’s restrictive policy towards the manufacture and prescription of opioids is having on patients with chronic pain conditions. This is one of the first signs that someone in the administration has taken note of the unintended consequences of this misguided policy—a policy that is based upon the false narrative that the overdose crisis is primarily the result of doctors prescribing opioids to patients in pain.In response to a wide range of public input solicited by the FDA beginning in September 2017, Commissioner Gottlieb stated:We ’ve heard the concerns expressed by these individuals about having continued access to necessary pain medication, the fear of being stigmatized as an addict, challenges in finding health care professionals willing to work with or even prescribe opioids, and sadly, for some patients, increased thou ghts of or actual suicide because crushing pain was resulting in a loss of quality of life.Pointing out that, “In some medical circumstances, opioids are the only drugs that work for some patients,” Dr. Gottlieb announced that a public meeting will be held on July 9 on “Patient-Focused Drug Development for Chronic Pain,” and invited pain patients to offer their perspectives.Hinting at his dissatisfaction with the 2016 one-size-fits-all opioid prescription guidelines published by the Centers for Disease Control and Preventi...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - Category: American Health Authors: Source Type: blogs