[Vision2020] Profiting From Pain

[Art Deco]

  [image: The New York Times] <http://www.nytimes.com/>

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June 22, 2013
Profiting From Pain By BARRY
MEIER<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/m/barry_meier/index.html>

THE use of narcotic painkillers, or opioids, has boomed over the past
decade as drug makers and doctors have promoted them for a new use:
treating long-term pain from back injuries, headaches,
arthritis<http://health.nytimes.com/health/guides/disease/arthritis/overview.html?inline=nyt-classifier>and
conditions like fibromyalgia. Insurers have also grown to see pills as
a cheaper way to treat chronic pain than other methods.

Some patients are greatly helped by opioids, a large family of medications.
Among the more widely used opioids are oxycodone, which is found in
Percocet and OxyContin, and hydrocodone, which is used in Vicodin. Other
potent opioids include fentanyl and methadone. Narcotic painkillers are now
the most widely prescribed class of medications in the United States, and
prescriptions for the strongest opioids, including OxyContin, have
increased nearly fourfold over the past decade.

There is increasing evidence, however, that such drugs, along with being
widely abused, are often ineffective in treating long-term pain and can
have serious consequences, particularly when used in high doses. Along with
the risk of addiction, side effects can include psychological dependence,
reduced drive, extreme
lethargy<http://health.nytimes.com/health/guides/symptoms/fatigue/overview.html?inline=nyt-classifier>and
sleep
apnea<http://health.nytimes.com/health/guides/disease/sleep-apnea/overview.html?inline=nyt-classifier>.


The economic costs associated with the painkiller boom have also proved
enormous, giving rise to a host of unanticipated medical, legal and social
costs. Over the past decade, the legal — and illegal — use of these drugs
has given birth to new businesses and expanded existing ones. These include
urine-screening tests to make sure patients are taking the drugs properly,
added sales of addiction treatment drugs, growing emergency-room expenses,
law-enforcement budgets and skyrocketing costs for insurers.

In the short run, treating a patient with an opioid like OxyContin, which
costs about $6,000 a year, is less expensive than putting a patient through
a pain-treatment program that emphasizes physical
therapy<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/health/diseasesconditionsandhealthtopics/physicaltherapy/index.html?inline=nyt-classifier>and
behavior modification. But over time, such programs, which run from
$15,000 to $25,000, might yield far lower costs.

Here is a brief
guide<http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2013/06/23/sunday-review/the-soaring-cost-of-the-opioid-economy.html>to
the economics of opioids.

Barry Meier is a reporter who covers business and medicine for The New York
Times and the author of the Times e-book “A World of Hurt: Fixing Pain
Medicine’s Biggest Mistake.”


-- 
Art Deco (Wayne A. Fox)
art.deco.studios at gmail.com
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