DRUGS/FDA/TRUMP PEOPLE/SCOTT GOTTLIEB: “Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Scott Gottlieb is calling for his agency to institute rigorous new safety standards for how immediate-release opioids are prescribed, in an effort to curb the nation’s opioid crisis.
Dr. Gottlieb, in a talk kicking off an FDA workshop of public-health officials on painkiller safety and abuse, said the agency now will begin requiring expanded training for doctors, nurses and other health-care professionals who administer the immediate-release products. This risk-moderating step expands existing safety measures already required on extended-release pain drugs…
The commissioner said the FDA now will require that training of health-care personnel will broaden information about nondrug, and non-opioid, approaches to controlling pain. He said the agency also will institute a study of doctors’ understanding of abuse-deterrent features of various pain drugs.”
-Thomas M. Burton, “FDA Commissioner Seeks New Standards for Some Opioid Prescriptions,” The Wall Street Journal online, July 10, 2017 09:00am