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Methadone Rises as a Painkiller With Big Risks - and Cheap Price

8/18/2008 05:36:00 PM  , ,  

The most amazing part of this article is the cost compared to OxyContin, that was an eye opener for me, not being acquainted with pain killing medications.  Xanax and Valium do not mix here either and we all remember the Anna Nicole Smith death, which probably accounted for bring methadone to the forefront.  The death rate is climbing close to that of heroin as well.  Perhaps soon heroin could go by the wayside?  Generic wins here with the insurance companies in the cost department, that's a given. 

In a related story the FDA is contemplating training for dispensing pain medications...as the death rates continue to rise.  BD  

In what critics call a stunning oversight, the F.D.A-approved package insert for methadone for decades recommended starting doses for pain at up to 80 mg per day. This could unequivocally cause death in patients who have not recently been using narcotics,..... In November 2006, after reports of overdoses and deaths among pain patients multiplied and The Charleston Gazette reported on the dangerous package instructions, the F.D.A. cut the recommended starting limit to no more than 30 mg per day.

"Her insurance at one point covered only $500 in prescriptions, which paid for just one month’s worth of OxyContin, compared with methadone’s cost of $35 a month."

Methadone Rises as a Painkiller With Big Risks - NYTimes.com

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