Latest Opioid Stories

SAN FRANCISCO, March 28, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Nektar Therapeutics (NASDAQ: NKTR) today reported that its partner Affymax, Inc. announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved OMONTYS® (peginesatide) Injection for the treatment of anemia due to chronic kidney disease (CKD) in adult patients on dialysis. Nektar and Affymax have an exclusive agreement under which Nektar provides Affymax with its proprietary PEGylation technology for use in OMONTYS®. Under...

The findings open the door to the development of better medicine for pain, depression and other conditions Scientists have for the first time determined the three-dimensional atomic structure of a human opioid receptor, a molecule on the surface of brain cells that binds to opioids and is centrally involved in pleasure, pain, addiction, depression, psychosis, and related conditions. Dozens of legal and illegal drugs, from heroin to hospital anesthetics, work by targeting these receptors....

At the molecular level, drugs like salvinorin A (the active ingredient of the hallucinogenic plant Salvia divinorum) work by activating specific proteins, known as receptors, in the brain and body. Salvinorin A, the most potent naturally occurring hallucinogen, is unusual in that it interacts with only one receptor in the human brain — the kappa opioid receptor (KOR). Scientists know of four distinct types of opioid receptors, but until now the structure of the 'salvia receptor', and the...

Opioid drugs used to relieve pain in postoperative and chronic cancer patients may stimulate the growth and spread of tumors, according to two studies and a commentary in the 2012 annual Journal Symposium issue of Anesthesiology, the academic journal of the American Society of Anesthesiologists. "Epidemiologic findings suggest that the type of anesthesia we do for cancer surgery influences recurrence rate, and laboratory studies demonstrate that opioids influence tumor progression and...

Opioids are a mainstay of care in the critical care unit, but their use frequently causes constipation which can lead to adverse outcomes including delayed feeding and later discharge from the ICU. Researchers from London, UK, and Chicago, IL, have found that methylnaltrexone (MNTX), a peripheral opioid antagonist, may restore bowel function in critically ill patients. Their retrospective study appears in the March issue of Mayo Clinic Proceedings. "We found MNTX to be very effective in...

RALEIGH, N.C., Feb. 28, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- BioDelivery Sciences International, Inc. (Nasdaq: BDSI) today announced that it has reached agreement with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on the development program for BEMA Buprenorphine/Naloxone (BNX) that should result in a New Drug Application (NDA) filing for the treatment of opioid dependence in the first half of 2013. BDSI recently met with the FDA and discussed the results of its recently completed pharmacokinetic...

SAN FRANCISCO, Calif., Feb. 24, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Nektar Therapeutics (Nasdaq: NKTR) will announce its financial results for the fourth quarter ended December 31, 2011 on Wednesday, February 29, 2012, after the close of U.S.-based financial markets. Howard Robin, president and chief executive officer, will host a conference call to review the results beginning at 5:00 p.m. Eastern Time (ET)/2:00 p.m. Pacific Time (PT). The press release and a live audio-only Webcast of the...

SEATTLE, February 21, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Omeros Corporation (NASDAQ: OMER) today announced that it has been awarded a grant of $1.04 million from the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) to fund further drug development against neuromedin U receptor 2 (NMUR2). NMUR2 is a non-orphan G protein-coupled receptor (GPCR) linked to pain. Drugs that target NMUR2 could manage pain without the risk of addiction or other negative side effects associated with currently marketed...

Research, Policy, Treatment and New IOM Report to Paint Brighter Solution to Solving Pain for 116 Million Suffering Americans GLENVIEW, Ill., Feb. 16, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The 28th Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Pain Medicine (AAPM) brings together decades of scientific research, evidence-based medical knowledge and a new analysis by the Institute of Medicine to help solve the pain epidemic in America. "With definitive research, evidence, and regulation...

LANSING, Mich., Feb. 6, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Accident Fund Holdings, Inc. recently created a comprehensive narcotics program to help reduce the health risks of these drugs on injured workers and ultimately provide a mechanism for them to get back to work sooner. (Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20100727/DE40865LOGO ) The recent shift in prescribing patterns to more patients consuming Schedule II narcotics is more prevalent today then ever before. Opioid medications are...