Pharmacology News

Study results indicated that patients with PTSD were at greater risk for death in the year following co-prescription of opioids and benzodiazepines than patients newly prescribed opioids only, benzodiazepines only or neither medication class.

Opioid prescribing and new persistent use following vaginal and cesarean delivery has declined since 2008, but maternity care clinicians can reduce new persistent use further with careful opioid prescribing, according to a study published in JAMA Network Open.

Although benzodiazepine use during pregnancy did not seem to be linked to congenital or cardiac malformations, its use in combination with antidepressants may increase the risk for congenital malformations, study data published in Journal of Clinical Psychiatry showed.

Patients who were black, women or who were at risk for opioid-related harm were more likely to be prescribed chronic opioids, according to findings recently published in the Annals of Family Medicine.

Sanofi announced that it signed a deal with Roche for exclusive over-the-counter rights to Tamiflu to prevent and treat influenza in the U.S.

Among high-risk patients prescribed PCSK9 inhibitors, those whose prescriptions were rejected by payers or who abandoned their prescriptions had worse outcomes compared with those whose prescriptions were paid for and picked up, researchers reported.

Prenatal opioid exposure may negatively impact neurocognitive and physical development, and those effects can last until adolescence, according to findings from a systematic review and meta-analysis published in JAMA Network Open.

The use of nonprescription antibiotics is a widespread public health issue in the United States that requires further attention, according to a review published in the Annals of Internal Medicine.

Almost half of people aged 70 years and older who do not have CVD take aspirin to prevent cardiovascular disease despite guidelines that recommend against the practice, according to findings published in the Annals of Internal Medicine.

According to results from the ongoing Tsepamo study in Botswana, infants born to women who took the integrase inhibitor dolutegravir for HIV infection from conception remained at an elevated risk for neural tube defects, with three in 1,000 born with these conditions. However, the findings, which were presented at the International AIDS Society Conference in Mexico City and published in The New England Journal of Medicine, showed that the risk is significantly lower than previously estimated.