Abuse of Opioid Analgesics Is Missing

Trends in medical use and abuse of opioid analgesics.

CONTEXT Pain often is inadequately treated due in part to reluctance about using opioid analgesics and fear that they will be abused. Although international and national expert groups have determined that opioid analgesics are essential for the relief of pain, little information has been available about the health consequences of the abuse of these drugs. OBJECTIVE To evaluate the proportion ...

Opioid Analgesics

Intensive research on the neurobiology of pain over the past two decades has revealed many receptors, ion channels and enzymes with potential as novel targets for development of a new generation of analgesic agents. However, despite large investment in preclinical and clinical development of small molecules and biologics as potential novel pain therapeutics, very few have reached the clinic. He...

Opioid and Nonopioid Analgesics

Non-opioid analgesics

C describe the concept of multimodal analgesia and give examples Abstract Opium is the natural substance to which modern narcotics owe their existence. First discovered in the 1500s, opium was the most potent analgesic compound in use, held in high regard, hence its Latin name laudanum (to praise). Subsequent studies into the effects of opium led to the discovery of the opioid receptors, and th...

The Future Of Opioid Analgesics

PROLOGUE The opioid analgesics represent an important class of agents for the treatment of severe clinical pain, but many effects often limit their usefulness. This manuscript will discuss recent findings in opioid pharmacology, and how medicinal chemists may be able to utilize these findings of novel opioid analgesics with reduced undesired effects. As such, the manuscript serves as an example...