Selected items from the News and Latest Additions sections of www.palliativedrugs.com, the world’s leading palliative care website.
Hot Topics
EAPC guidelines on the use of opioid analgesics for cancer pain
An updated version of the guidelines of the European Association for Palliative Care (EAPC) on the use of opioids for the treatment of cancer pain has been published in Lancet Oncology. Supporting evidence for the updated opioid guidelines consists of 17 systematic reviews that were published in a special issue of Palliative Medicine in July 2011. A patient friendly summary of the guidelines can be downloaded from the European Palliative Care Research Collaborative (EPCRC) website.
Morphine manifesto
Leading organisations in the UK and around the world are supporting the morphine manifesto, which calls for an end to the unethical practice of promoting access to expensive opioid analgesics without also making low cost immediate release oral morphine available. The manifesto is appealing to governments, healthcare institutions, and the pharmaceutical industry to assure the accessibility of immediate release morphine to patients in need at a cost that the individual and community can afford. For more information, and to sign the manifesto, click here.
NPC reports on safe management of controlled drugs
The UK National Prescribing Centre (NPC) has published three final reports regarding the safe management and use of controlled drugs in England in prison, in the ambulance and paramedic services and private prescribing and requisitioning.
FDA approve a shared REMS for all transmucosal fentanyl products
The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) have approved a shared Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategy (REMS) for all Transmucosal Immediate Release Fentanyl (TIRF) products. This shared program has been designed to streamline the REMS process and will allow prescribers and pharmacists to enrol in one shared REMS system for all TIRF products. The branded fentanyl products currently included are; Abstral® (sublingual tablet), Actiq® (lozenge), Fentora® (buccal tablet), Lazanda® (nasal spray), Onsolis® (buccal soluble film) and Subsys® (sublingual spray), the REMS website will be available in March 2012. For more information click here.
Revised patient guide on advance care planning
An updated version of the UK guide “Planning your future care” has been published by the National End of Life Care Programme, the University of Nottingham and the Dying Matters Coalition. This guide aims to explain advance care planning and the different options available to people when planning for their end of life care. For more information click here.
Prepared by Sarah Charlesworth and Andrew Wilcock