Of the 8421 fatalities over that period, 1881 involved oxycodone, an addictive painkiller trading under brand names like OxyContin or OxyNorm; while a further 757 involved fentanyl, a synthetic opioid up to 100 times more powerful than morphine.
Australia now has the eighth-highest per-capita opioid consumption in the world. Out of 167 countries and territories it's ahead of New Zealand and the UK but still well behind the United States, where opioids have claimed an estimated 400,000 lives since 1999 and prompted serious political and legal backlash.
Mundipharma says it "has always been firmly committed to strict compliance" with relevant codes, laws and federal regulations governing the way drug companies can promote their products in Australia. Documents also show that other producers of opioid-based drugs have also spent millions of dollars on educational and promotional activities over the same period, including Sanofi, Pfizer and Janssen Global Services.
Coronial records show many people are currently falling through the cracks. One Victorian man was given 58 prescriptions for 1500 Oxycontin tablets and a further 29 scripts for diazepam, a dangerous benzodiazepine used for anxiety, in the months before his death from an overdose.
The issue is complex, because millions of people live with genuine chronic pain and rely on opioid based medication to cope. With an ageing population, the prevalence of painful conditions is likely to increase.But specialist services are limited, particularly in country towns. Pain specialist Malcolm Hogg said GPs often lack appropriate training in pain management, which is why some drug companies provided educational programs to fill the void.
Is this for real fairtrade fairwork which regulator is keeping a check now aussielivesmatter
Why is it legal to advertise? Please end enforced addictions and end the government programs to cause addictions.
“...would type their patient’s name into the software and receive a real-time alert about any other drugs the patient had already been given by other doctors.” This doesn’t already exist? I’m shocked.
FarrahTomazin It'd sure be nice if journalists writing about opioid use could sometimes also find some space in their articles for the voices of those who have a legitimate medical need for prescription painkillers
Drug companies are still trying to sell stuff? Wow!
FarrahTomazin Well US has already taken against one of the company named Insys but nothing in Australia.
They need to. The Australian sister company of Purdue, operating locally with impunity, needs to raise billions of dollars to bail out the Mother Ship. It's literally part of the American class action settlement.
Clearly the changes to codeine access has been a huge success...not
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