Fox in the Hen House –

NOVEMBER 19, 2018 — Dsuvia, an opioid that is five to 10 times stronger than fentanyl, won approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Nov. 2, following clinical research, advocacy and public testimony by the U’s Dr. Jacob Hutchins, among others, on behalf of the manufacturer. In an interview, Hutchins said the new painkiller is justified — even though the nation is struggling with an epidemic of opioid abuse — because it will fill a gap in hospital pain control for patients after injuries or surgeries. Research has shown Dsuvia relieves pain faster than other opioids because it is administered in dissolvable tablets rather than by intravenous lines that can be tricky for doctors, nurses or paramedics to set up. “It fills a gap that we don’t have anything else to fill with,” said Hutchins, who added that he was speaking as a paid consultant for drugmaker AcelRx, and not as an anesthesiologist for the U or director of its ambulatory surgical center.

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