Expert opinion on drug safety
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Polypharmacy, defined as the use of multiple drugs or more than are medically necessary, is a growing concern for older adults. MEDLINE and EMBASE databases were searched from January 1, 1986 to June 30, 2013) to identify relevant articles in people aged > 65 years. ⋯ International research shows that polypharmacy is common in older adults with the highest number of drugs taken by those residing in nursing homes. Nearly 50% of older adults take one or more medications that are not medically necessary. Research has clearly established a strong relationship between polypharmacy and negative clinical consequences. Moreover, well-designed interprofessional (often including clinical pharmacist) intervention studies that focus on enrolling high-risk older patients with polypharmacy have shown that they can be effective in reducing aspects of unnecessary prescribing with mixed results on distal health outcomes.
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Pain management has become a widely discussed topic throughout all medical subspecialties. Although pediatric pain management has evolved significantly in its recent history, there is continued interest in the adequacy of pain treatment, both in the acute inpatient setting as well as the postoperative and chronic pain management setting. Although health care providers are becoming more aggressive concerning prompt and effective treatment of acute and chronic pain, safety data and adverse effects of narcotic analgesics may be overlooked. ⋯ Further, the authors present their opinions concerning current and future practices regarding the prescribing practice of opiate analgesics, as well as a step-wise approach for acute oral pain management.
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Cancer immunotherapy encompasses a wide range of treatment modalities that harness the anti-tumor effects of the immune system. Some immunotherapies broadly activate the immune system while others precisely target distinct tumor antigens. Because of this heterogeneity, the side effects associated with immunotherapy can be mild and localized or more severe and systemic. ⋯ Immunotherapies are slowly becoming integrated into the standard of care in cancer treatment. Promising results using immunotherapy have been reported demonstrating complete remissions and cures in many patients with aggressive malignancies. The complexity and cost of engineering and administering of some forms of immunotherapy limit their use to distinct patient populations. High-throughput and cost-effective techniques are being used to broaden the applications of immunotherapy to treat cancer patients.
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Expert Opin Drug Saf · May 2013
ReviewOxycodone combined with opioid receptor antagonists: efficacy and safety.
A mu receptor antagonist combined with oxycodone (OXY) may improve pain control, reduce physical tolerance and withdrawal, minimizing opioid-related bowel dysfunction and act as an abuse deterrent. ⋯ Due to the lack of efficacy the combination of altered low-dose naltrexone with oxycodone should cease in development. The combination of sustained release oxycodone plus naloxone reduces constipation with a consistent benefit. Safety has been suboptimally evaluated which is a concern. Although the drug is commercially available in several countries, ongoing safety monitoring particularly high doses would be important.
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Expert Opin Drug Saf · May 2013
ReviewCardiac safety concerns for ondansetron, an antiemetic commonly used for nausea linked to cancer treatment and following anaesthesia.
Ondansetron is a 5-HT₃ receptor antagonist commonly used as an antiemetic to prevent nausea and vomiting associated with anti-cancer drugs, cancer radiotherapy or postoperatively. Recently, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued a warning for ondansetron due to a potential for prolongation of the QT interval of the electrocardiogram (ECG), a phenomenon that is associated with an increased risk of the potentially fatal arrhythmia torsade de pointes. ⋯ The dose of ondansetron that the FDA has concerns about is 32 mg i.v. (or several doses that are equivalent to this), which is only used in preventing nausea and vomiting associated with cancer chemotherapy. This suggests that ondansetron may be safe in lower doses used to prevent nausea and vomiting in radiation treatment or postoperatively. However, as there is a report that a lower dose of ondansetron prolonged the QT interval in healthy volunteers, this needs to be clarified by the FDA. More research needs to be undertaken on the relationship between QT prolongation and torsades in order that the FDA can produce clear-cut evidence of proarrhythmic risk when introducing warnings for this.