The New York Times reported on the $253 million suit won against Merck but noted that Merck, Novartis, and GlaxoSmithKline continue to invest in these cox-2 drugs and hope to prove their safety. Click over to the David Nalle post on Blogcritics on The Vioxx Verdict. Mr. Nalle's article is less a polemic about the state of pain medication than a reasoned discussion of this high an award and the future for Merck as well as the drugs themselves.
See $253 Million for the Times Business Section's take on the problem of pain management.
Aspirin and Tylenol are not even strong enough painkellers to be classed for more than "mild" pain. What, then, is left? The answer is opoids. Opium derivatives.
"Unfortunately, the National Institute on Drug Abuse has recently gotten into the anti-opiate act, with director Nora Volkow claiming that medical education misleads doctors into believing that there is little risk of addiction when prescribing opoids for chronic pain because those who use them for acute pain treatment are not likely to become addicted.In an interview with Psychiatric Times (7/05), Volkow said that "5-7%" of chronic pain patients given opioids become addicts. That means, of course, that over 93% do not, which many would see as a low risk. But other studies have found the risk to be lower than that claimed by Volkow. The risk for people without a prior history of drug problems, for example, has been found to be less than 1%. Furthermore, the risk of accidental addiction declines with age, which, given that many pain patients are middle aged or older, is an important consideration in considering any potential risk for accidental addiction. None of that, however, is mentioned in the Psychiatric Times piece."
Do note that the prescriptions of physicians are being controlled by an agency led by a Nora Volkow . She doesn't appear to have an M.D. or Dr. attached to her name but has the power or influence to help create painful medicine — the present situation where "50% of dying patients in the U. S. are still under-treated for pain"-- at least according to the World Health Organization.
Article comments
1 - John Bill
Brilliantly written Alpha. Did you know that Opium was outlawed in the US based on the 3rd Hague Opium Conference? Alcohol required the 18Th amendment to ban it. Somehow though because opium, cocaine, and marijuana were outlawed for racist reasons they didn't. Prior to this treaty, medicine was considered a states issue. The Supreme Court ruled however that the interstate commerce clause prohibitions on federal power didn't apply. Thus the drug war was born.