NASEM to develop new opioid prescribing guidelines

The Food and Drug Administration today awarded a contract to the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine to develop evidence-based guidelines for appropriate opioid analgesic prescribing for acute pain resulting from specific conditions or procedures. FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb, M.D., said the “primary scope of this work is to understand what evidence is needed to ensure that all current and future clinical practice guidelines for opioid analgesic prescribing are sufficient, and what research is needed to generate that evidence in a practical and feasible manner.” FDA said this work would build on efforts started by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to develop federal guidelines on pain management and the use of opioids, but the guidelines FDA develops “would be based on prospectively gathered evidence drawn from evaluations of clinical practice and the treatment of pain.” In addition, Gottlieb said this work could potentially inform drug labelling. As part of the contract, NASEM will conduct a study and issue a report on its findings.