Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
HHS Relaxes Strict Prescribing Caps For Anti-Addiction Medication
The Associated Press: US To Raise Cap For Docs Prescribing Opioid Addiction Drug
The Obama administration is increasing the number of patients whom doctors can treat for opioid addiction with a medication called buprenorphine. The cap is being raised from 100 patients per doctor to 275 as the White House tries to pressure Congress to approve funds for opioid abuse treatment. Doctors seeking the higher cap will have to apply. The modest step being announced Wednesday comes the same day that House-Senate bargainers plan to meet to finalize a compromise package on drug abuse. (7/6)
The Wall Street Journal: Obama Administration Loosens Controls On Medication To Ease Opioid Cravings
The limits were put in place to try to keep tight control of the medication, which addicts sometimes buy and sell on the black market because it prevents painful withdrawal symptoms from heroin and other drugs. Federal officials believed that keeping a tight lid on prescribing would thwart this black-market trade. But the limits have left many patients unable to find a doctor who can prescribe them buprenorphine, a medication public-health officials call an important tool in combating the growing epidemic of opioid abuse and overdose deaths. (Whalen, 7/6)
The Columbus Dispatch: New U.S. Rule Eases Access To Anti-Addiction Drug Buprenorphine
Access to medication-assisted treatment for people addicted to heroin and pain pills will expand under a new U.S Department of Health and Human Services rule. Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia M. Burwell said in a conference call Tuesday that the department will allow qualified physicians to treat up to 275 patients, up from 100, with buprenorphine, a medication that blocks opioids from affecting the brain. As many as 17,000 new patients could be added in the first year, with thousands more treated in succeeding years, she said. (Johnson, 7/6)
Sacramento Bee: More Opioid Abusers Now Can Get Medication Help
More Americans will now have access to a drug that could help treat their opioid addiction, Sylvia Burwell, U.S. secretary of health and human services, announced Tuesday, even as she pushed for Congress to approve $1.1 billion targeted at the opioid epidemic. The drug, called buprenorphine, is one of three medications -- the others are naltrexone and methadone -- that the FDA has approved for treating addictions to the powerful painkillers. Health care providers who prescribe the drug now must cap the number of patients treated at 100 because of fears that misusers will divert the medication for street use. The new rule, effective Aug. 5, raises that patient cap to 275. (Mueller, 7/5)
The Tennessean: Feds To Raise Patient Load For Addiction Treatment
Federal officials are increasing the maximum number of patients a doctor can treat for painkiller and heroin abuse as a way to expand access to treatment. The number of patients to whom a doctor can prescribe buprenorphine, a narcotic that treats pain and opioid addiction, will increase to 275 starting later in the summer under a rule from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Currently, doctors can see up to 100 patients. (Fletcher, 7/5)
Meanwhile, Pfizer has agreed to make changes in its marketing strategy when it comes to opioids —
The Washington Post: Pfizer Agrees To Truth In Opioid Marketing
Pfizer, the world’s second- largest drug company, has agreed to a written code of conduct for the marketing of opioids that some officials hope will set a standard for manufacturers of narcotics and help curb the use of the addictive painkillers. Though Pfizer does not sell many opioids compared with other industry leaders, its action sets it apart from companies that have been accused of fueling an epidemic of opioid misuse through aggressive marketing of their products. (Bernstein, 7/5)
