Pain patients zero in on CDC guidelines, side effects

Chronic pain patients said that CDC guidelines and side effects of non-opioid medicines are the major hurdles to accessing effective treatments for their disease. The statements were made at an FDA Patient-Focused Drug Development (PFDD) meeting to discuss treatment concerns for patients with chronic pain.

In March 2016, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued guidelines for primary care doctors, recommending when physicians should start or continue prescribing opioids for chronic pain as well as when to discontinue or taper down the dose in some patients. The guidelines, which the CDC referred to as "recommendations," were designed to curtail the harms associated with opioids, including overuse and addiction (see "CDC Issues Opioid Prescribing Guidelines")...