New prescribing guidance has been issued by the FDA for immediate-release and extended-release/long-acting opioids for pain management. The agency also announced multiple label updates, which include changes to the Boxed Warnings.
Drug Enforcement Agency Outlines New Training Requirements
Starting in June, all prescribers registered with the Drug Enforcement Agency must complete a one-time, eight-hour training on treating and managing patients with opioid or substance use disorders.
California Doctor Gets 30 Years to Life in Landmark Overdose Case
LOS ANGELES (Reuters)—A Southern California doctor was sentenced to 30 years to life in prison on Friday for over-prescribing drugs that caused the fatal overdose of three patients in a murder case capped by the first conviction of its kind in the U.S. The case against Dr. Hsiu Ying “Lisa” Tseng, 46, comes amid what…
Letters to the Editor: In Memoriam
One more prescribing rule [See “Rheuminations,” September 2009, p. 6], honored mainly in the breach, in our overspending climate: don’t prescribe an expensive brand when generics are as good or better, especially Nexium (which I have never prescribed) versus omeprazole, Lipitor versus simvastatin (which now costs the VA three cents a pill), and—for rheumatologists who are writing 80% Uloric—allopurinol except for the 10% who might need Uloric.