Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Doctors Are So Ill-Trained To Fight Opioid Crisis Experts Say It's Like 'Trying To Fight World War II With Only Coast Guard'
The New York Times: Most Doctors Are Ill-Equipped To Deal With The Opioid Epidemic. Few Medical Schools Teach Addiction.
To the medical students, the patient was a conundrum. According to his chart, he had residual pain from a leg injury sustained while working on a train track. Now he wanted an opioid stronger than the Percocet he’d been prescribed. So why did his urine test positive for two other drugs — cocaine and hydromorphone, a powerful opioid that doctors had not ordered? (Hoffman, 9/10)
And in other news on the epidemic —
Reuters: Orexo Soars After Winning Opioid Drug Appeal Against Teva
A U.S. appeals court on Monday revived Swedish pharmaceutical company Orexo AB's lawsuit accusing a unit of Israel's Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd of infringing a patent for its opioid addiction drug Zubsolv. Shares of Orexo closed 30.9 percent higher in Stockholm after the decision by the U.S. Federal Circuit Court of Appeals in Washington, D.C., which handles intellectual property cases. (Stempel, 9/10)
The Tennessean: Tennessee’s Pill Addiction Is Improving, But Fentanyl Looms
It’s a little hard to tell, but Tennessee may be turning a corner on prescription pill abuse. Although fatal opioid overdoses continue to rise throughout the state, deaths attributed specifically to prescription painkillers dropped for the first time in five years. The 12 percent decrease in 2017 is a rare sign of progress in a state ravaged by addiction. (Kelman, 9/10)
The Associated Press: Meth Use Makes Comeback In Colorado As Opioid Epidemic Worsens
Recent data shows methamphetamine use made a deadly comeback across Colorado last year. Figures from the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment show meth ranked among the fastest-growing drugs in fatalities in the state from 2016 to 2017. (9/10)
