AHA, Others Urge DEA to Help Ease Shortage of Injectable Opioids

The AHA, American Society of Health-System Pharmacists, American Society of Anesthesiologists, Institute for Safe Medication Practices, and American Society of Clinical Oncology today urged the Drug Enforcement Administration to temporarily adjust the aggregate production quotas for certain injectable opioid medications in short supply to allow other manufacturers to supply product until the shortages resolve. “We understand and share the DEA’s concern that these medications need to be well‐managed and used judiciously to help stem the nation’s opioid epidemic,” the organizations wrote. “We fully support and use advances in pain management, such as multimodal analgesia, that enable patients to undergo procedures with fewer opioids and less reliance on opioids after surgery. Nonetheless, injectable opioids remain a crucial component of patient management during and immediately after many operations. With no appropriate opioids available, operations would have to be postponed or cancelled. In some cases, this could prove life‐threatening to the patient.”