Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Doctors Trying Different Care For Newborns In Opioid Withdrawal
The Wall Street Journal: For Babies Born Dependent On Opioids, Doctors Try New Caregiving Approach
Thousands of babies are born each year to mothers who are using opioids. The newborns enter the world in withdrawal—some fussy and sweating, others struggling to feed. The treatment, until recently, was to separate the babies from their mothers, start them on morphine, and keep them isolated for days or weeks of intensive care. Now doctors have a new treatment: Mom. Doctors and researchers are encouraging parents to soothe their newborns as they shed their dependence on opioids, and using morphine as a last resort. (Wernau, 4/30)
In other news about the opioid crisis —
The New York Times: National Academies Members Demand Answers About Sacklers’ Donations
More than 75 members of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine demanded on Thursday that the organization explain why it has for years failed to return or repurpose millions of dollars donated by the Sackler family, including some who led Purdue Pharma. The company’s drug, OxyContin, helped set in motion a prescription opioid crisis that has claimed hundreds of thousands of lives. The New York Times reported this month that even as the Academies advised the government on opioid policy, the organization accepted $19 million from the Sackler family and appointed influential members to its committees who had financial ties to Purdue Pharma. (Jewett, 4/28)
AP: Frustration Grows Over Wait On OxyContin Maker's Settlement
More than a year after OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma reached a tentative settlement over the toll of opioids that was accepted nearly universally by the groups suing the company — including thousands of people injured by the drug — money is still not rolling out. Parties waiting to finalize the deal are waiting for a court to rule on the legality of a key detail: whether members of the Sackler family who own the company can be protected from lawsuits over OxyContin in exchange for handing over up to $6 billion in cash over time plus the company itself. (Mulvihill, 4/29)
