Morphine-6-glucuronide

Arkansas alleged that the pharmacy benefit managers Optum and Express Scripts' parent companies, UnitedHealth Group and Cigna, used the immense profits earned from opioid sales to grow into “vertically-integrated colossuses” and noted both companies have exceeded $100 billion in annual revenue in recent years. Arkansas Attorney General Tim Griffin revealed the state is filing a lawsuit against pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) Optum and Express Scripts for their role in the state's ongoing opioid epidemic. In the lawsuit (PDF), the state argues the PBMs negotiated deals with opioid manufacturers and exploited rebates, all while failing to protect consumers as they financially benefited. “Pill by pill and dollar by dollar, PBMs enabled the opioid epidemic in Arkansas,” said Griffin in a statement June 24. “Today, we begin the process of holding them accountable for their roles in a crisis that has ravaged our state—a crisis they helped cause, contributed to and furthered.” Optum and Express Scripts did not reply to requests for comment. “This case arises from Defendant Optum’s and Defendant Express Scripts’s role in causing and furthering the worst man-made epidemic in modern medical history: the misuse, abuse, diversion and over-prescription of opioids,” the lawsuit begins. “Defendants quite literally serve as gatekeepers to the prescribing, fulfilling and dispensing of opioids throughout the nation, including Arkansas.” The lawsuit alleges PBMs place opioid drugs on the lower tiers of its formularies, forgoing safety concerns. Additionally, the PBMs operated online retail pharmacies that unleashed “billions of morphine milligram equivalents of opioids” but did not take action against an epidemic they knew existed, the state wrote in the lawsuit. For example, Optum and Express Scripts are accused of colluding with Purdue Pharma and other manufacturers to remove utilization management measures. Optum is owned by UnitedHealth Group, while Express Scripts is owned by Cigna. Arkansas alleged that these companies used the immense profits earned from opioid sales to grow into “vertically-integrated colossuses” and noted both companies have exceeded $100 billion in annual revenue in recent years. “Opioid manufacturers had dedicated executives assigned to expand and strengthen the ties between UHG, OptumInsight, OptumRx and the manufacturers," the lawsuit said. “OptumInsight was paid tens of millions of dollars by opioid manufacturers for its work to expand the opioid market.” In 2021, Centene was forced to pay $15.2 million to Arkansas after a PBM subsidiary submitted inaccurate bills and didn’t disclose discounts. PBMs, under a huge spotlight from regulators and lawmakers, are also under pressure from pharmacies over controversial fees. The National Community Pharmacists Association announced in October it is investigating direct and indirect remuneration fees for community pharmacies. The group maintains those fees are an antitrust violation. Healthcare and pharma companies have resolved opioid lawsuits in recent years. Rite Aid has closed hundreds of stores since filing for bankruptcy in October. The business faces numerous lawsuits for its alleged role in the opioid crisis. Walgreens agreed to pay $230 million to San Francisco in May 2023. The city’s attorney said from 2006 to 2014, there were more than 163 million opioid pills distributed. The company then agreed to pay $500 million to New Mexico the following month, on the same day CVS agreed to a settlement with California. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention previously said prescription opioid misuse cost the U.S. healthcare system almost $1.5 trillion in 2020. More than 100,000 people died due to an overdose dose in both 2021 and 2022, while other users began taking addictive drugs like heroin. In Arkansas, 546 people died due to overdoses in 2020, a 350% increase from the year 2000. Infants born with neonatal abstinence syndrome are also on the rise, the lawsuit said.

Study shows treatment with low-intensity, continuous ultrasound reduced patients' pain and need for pain medication.  TRUMBULL, CT / ACCESSWIRE / June 26, 2024 / Nearly one out of four Americans (23.3%) suffer from chronic low back pain. A new study finds that low-intensity continuous ultrasound, such as ZetrOZ Systems' sustained acoustic medicine (sam®) technology, alleviates the symptoms of chronic lower back pain and reduces the need for pain medication. sam Pain Reduction Over Time The study, presented at last month's 2024 Annual Meeting of the American College of Sports Medicine, examined the effect of low-intensity continuous ultrasound on chronic low back pain and how it can alleviate symptoms of chronic low back pain (CLBP) during a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial. The researchers1 found that having daily low-intensity continuous ultrasound (LICUS) treatment significantly eases clinical symptoms of chronic lower back pain compared to placebo treatment. LICUS is considered a safe and non-invasive therapeutic option for patients with CLBP. "We're pleased to see another study affirming how our sam® wearable ultrasound unit accelerates tissue healing and relieves pain, especially for people who suffer from low back pain," George K. Lewis, Ph.D., founder and CEO of ZetrOZ Systems. "Our sam® devices have a proven track record of treating soft tissue injury successfully and helping people feel less pain and be more active." The study included 65 patients (26 men, 39 women, average age 47) who had been suffering from CBLP for over three months. They were assigned to a LICUS or placebo treatment with baseline pain levels and medication usage recorded over two weeks before treatment. Participants underwent a daily four-hour lower lumbar region treatment with either active or placebo treatment for eight weeks. They maintained daily diaries and reported biweekly pain levels on the numeric rating scale (NRS), global rating of change (GROC), medication reduction, physical activity, and functionality.  The LICUS-treated group demonstrated significant reductions in pain levels (2.30-3.15 NRS scale) at specific intervals over eight weeks over the placebo method. The pain reduction was considerable in the first two weeks and decreased gradually over the next six weeks. After eight weeks, the LICUS-treated group had a reduction of 2.57 points on the NRS scale and a 3.48 GROC score improvement with a much lower difference of 22.5% in daily medication use of morphine (15.2 mg equivalent dosage). The researchers concluded: "Daily LICUS treatment significantly alleviates clinical symptoms of CLBP relative to placebo treatment. LICUS is a safe and non-invasive therapeutic option for patients with CLBP." The new study is the latest body of research documenting the effectiveness of ZetrOZ's sustained acoustic medicine technology in treating these types of conditions, documented in 42 peer-reviewed publications and 20 Level 1-5 clinical studies and thousands of patients treated with sam® every day. The sam® line of devices is cleared by the U.S. Food & Drug Administration for treating conditions such as knee osteoarthritis, patellar and shoulder tendinopathy, and chronic back pain.  To learn more, please visit . For more information on ZetrOZ Systems, please visit  .  1) Jason Krystofiak1, Ralph Ortiz2, Thomas Motyka3, Stephine Petterson4, Kevin Plancher5. 1RWJ Barnabas Health, Livingston, NJ. 2 Cayuga Medical Center, Ithaca, NY. 3Campbell University, Buies Creek, NC. 4Orthopedic Foundation, Stamford, CT. 5 Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, NY. (Sponsor: Amy Valasek, FACSM) About ZetrOZ Systems  ZetrOZ Systems is leading healing innovations in sports medicine, developing wearable bioelectronic devices to deliver sustained acoustic medicine (sam®). Researched and funded by the federal government, ZetrOZ is built on the proprietary medical technology of 46 patents and is the exclusive manufacturer and developer of the sam® product line, designed to treat acute and chronic musculoskeletal conditions.  Contact Information Maria Penaloza maria.penaloza@newswire.com SOURCE: ZetrOZ Systems View the original press release on newswire.com.