Join CEPOP on Thursday, December 3 at the Capitol Visitors Center to learn how precision medicine, big data, disposal technology, new therapies, and other innovative approaches are helping to confront the opioid abuse epidemic. The lunch is from 11:30 to 1 p.m. The full invitation can be found here.
CEPOP issued the attached press release (CEPOP October 2015 Press Release White House Action) commending the White House for its efforts to address the ongoing opioid epidemic as well as its recognition of private sector efforts to do the same.
CEPOP co-founder Mary Bono sat down with House Energy & Commerce Committee Chairman Upton to discuss the current policy landscape surrounding prescription opioid abuse. The meeting came as the E&C Health Subcommittee was reviewing several legislative proposals to address different dimensions of the epidemic.
Last month, CEPOP members met with CDC Director Dr. Tom Frieden to discuss the agency’s unfolding FY 2017 initiatives, and to learn more about the CDC’s draft guidelines for prescribing opioids for chronic pain. CEPOP will continue advocacy for the final FY 2017 appropriations and will develop comments on the proposed guidelines.
October issue, the JAMA published a series of articles on the growing opioid epidemic, demonstrating the range issues facing the medical community and policymakers. The articles included Addressing the Opioid Epidemic, Changes in Substance Abuse Treatment Use, and Nonmedical Prescription Opioid Use.
This month, AIT celebrated 25 years of leadership in toxicology testing and patient prescription drug monitoring. In 2014, AIT introduced GuideMed, a service that assists health care providers as they build monitoring programs that are both effective and ethical.
In a recent study, researchers found a correlation between Florida’s Prescription Drug Monitoring Program (PDMP) and pill mill laws and a decrease in opioid prescribing and use, particularly among patients with the highest levels of use.
The House yesterday also passed the National All Schedules Prescription Electronic Reporting Reauthorization Act of 2015, which would reauthorize funding for states to operate and expand their controlled substance monitoring programs.
The House yesterday passed the Protecting Our Infants Act of 2015, which now moves on to the Senate for consideration. Sponsored by Rep. Katherine Clark (MA-D-5), this bill would mandate an evaluation of the rise of prenatal opioid abuse and neonatal abstinence syndrome and include recommendations for prevention and treatment.
House Energy & Commerce Committee Democrats wrote to U.S. FDA Commissioner Ostroff requesting his agency require opioid manufacturers to revise their product labels to reflect concerns surrounding neonatal abstinence syndrome. The letter was signed by 22 members.