Drug companies are working to develop a pure, more powerful version of the nation’s second most-abused medicine, which has addiction experts worried that it could spur a new wave of abuse. The new pills contain the highly addictive painkiller hydrocodone, packing up to 10 times the amount of the drug as existing medications such as [...]

The Health Authority – Abu Dhabi (HAAD) has warned the public, including doctors, pharmacists and pharmacies against the misuse of Pregabalin, a neuropathic pain relief drug. According to HAAD, it has received numerous reports involving the abuse of the drug. “HAAD has received reports of theft (of Pregabalin) from pharmacies as well as pharmacists being [...]

Biopharmaceutical giant Pfizer Inc. said it received a Complete Response Letter from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, rejecting the new drug application for its investigational pain relief drug Remoxy Extended-Release Capsules CII, developed by Pain Therapeutics, Inc. Remoxy was using Oradur drug delivery technology developed by Durect Corp. Subsequent to the announcement, the shares [...]

The American public is confused about what’s in popular over-the-counter painkillers, according to a small new study. That fact could put people at risk for taking too much medication or taking potentially dangerous combinations. Only 31 percent of people in the study knew that Tylenol contains acetaminophen, while 75 percent of people knew that Bayer [...]

Prescription medicines are the way that many drug addicts first get hooked, making these legal medicines the new “gateway” drugs, new study findings show. University at Buffalo researchers interviewed 75 patients hospitalized for opioid detoxification and found that 31 of them said they first became addicted to legitimately prescribed painkillers. Another 24 patients said their [...]

Almost all people who illegally use or abuse opioid painkillers such as Oxycontin or Vicodin get the drugs from a friend or relative who had a prescription, a new report shows. In the study, which involved a 2008 survey of more than 5,300 Utah adults, almost 2 percent of respondents said they had taken an [...]

U.S. drug regulators asked on Friday for manufacturers of prescription pain medications to provide more specifics on an industry plan to curb growing abuse of morphine, methadone, oxycodone and other opioid drugs. The Food and Drug Administration in February had asked manufacturers including Johnson & Johnson and King Pharmaceuticals to come up with a joint [...]

TUESDAY, July 7 (HealthDay News) — Concerns about the possibility of fatal overdoses led U.S. health officials Tuesday to take several steps to limit the risk of using pain medications containing propoxyphene, including Darvon and Darvocet. Manufacturers must strengthen the labels of propoxyphene-containing products by adding boxed warnings that emphasize the potential for overdose and [...]

CHICAGO – A Food and Drug Administration panel has recommended limits on Tylenol and other drugs containing acetaminophen because of risks for liver failure. Maximum recommended doses for over-the-counter Tylenol would be reduced. Percocet and Vicodin, two narcotic prescription drugs containing acetaminophen, would be banned. Q: What’s the reason? A: It’s easy to get too [...]

Celebrex is in a group of drugs called nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs). It works by reducing hormones that cause inflammation and pain. Celebrex is used to treat pain or inflammation caused by many conditions such as arthritis, ankylosing spondylitis, and menstrual pain. It is also used in the treatment of hereditary polyps in the colon. [...]