Opioids Underperform Traditional Painkillers

Hundreds of thousands of Americans have been prescribed opioids over the last twenty years on the promise that these dangerous drugs provided significant pain relief, particularly for chronic pain. Millions of Vicodin and Oxycontin have been dispensed, and now Fentanyl patches have caused hundreds of deaths across the country, ravaging communities in many states.

Now, it appears that promise was a lie. A study published in the March 6th, 2018 edition of the Journal of the American Medical Association is the most thoroughly conducted examination yet of the efficacy of opioids. Not only did these highly addictive drugs not outperform acetaminophen and ibuprofen, opioids actually underperformed their over-the-counter alternatives. In fact, the best management of long-term pain came from:

• Over-the-counter anti-inflammatories
• Physical therapy
• Exercise

Thousands of Americans have wasted millions of dollars on drugs that simply do not work, and physicians prescribed those drugs despite years of research indicating that opioids are no better for pain management in many cases than Tylenol. Prescribing highly addictive drugs that are damaging to the body with such limited evidence to support those prescriptions is horrifying.

Drug companies have made billions of dollars in profits off these drugs, touting them as breakthroughs. Yet the research has never been as favorable to opioids as prescribing doctors. Pharmaceutical giants continue to develop and release drugs with limited understanding of their usefulness and safety, all in the name of profit.

If you or someone you love has been injured or killed by a defective drug, holding the manufacturers and the medical establishment responsible for their actions is of prime importance. So long as the drug companies profit off releasing dangerous drugs, they will continue to do so. Please, consult with an experienced attorney about your case, and show the drug companies they cannot continue to make money off the suffering of others.