Statement on National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine report on framing opioid prescribing guidelines for acute pain

https://www.fda.gov/news-events/press-announcements/statement-national-academies-sciences-engineering-and-medicine-report-framing-opioid-prescribing?utm_campaign=Statement%20on%20NASEM%20report%20on%20framing%20opioid%20prescribing%20guidelines%20for%20acute%20pain&utm_medium=email&utm_source=Eloqua


Statement on National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine report on framing opioid prescribing guidelines for acute pain

In August 2018, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration contracted the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM) to help advance the development of evidence-based guidelines for opioid analgesic prescribing for acute pain resulting from specific conditions or procedures. NASEM was tasked with providing a framework to evaluate current and future opioid prescribing to support a clinical practice guideline and to identify gaps in the evidence where future research is needed. We greatly appreciate all the work done by NASEM to produce the consensus report released today. We recognize the critical role that health care providers play in addressing the opioid crisis – both in reducing the rate of new addiction by decreasing unnecessary or inappropriate exposure to opioid analgesics, while still providing appropriate pain treatment to patients who have medical needs for these medicines. However, there are still too many prescriptions written for opioid analgesics for durations of use longer than are appropriate for the medical need being addressed. The FDA’s efforts to address the opioid crisis must focus on encouraging “right size” prescribing of opioid pain medication as well as reducing the number of people unnecessarily exposed to opioids, while ensuring appropriate access to address the medical needs of patients experiencing pain severe enough to warrant treatment with opioids.

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