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On Thursday, December 3, ASA Committee on Pain Medicine member Anita Gupta, D.O., Pharm.D., presented at a congressional briefing on Capitol Hill about innovations in treating the opioid abuse epidemic. Speakers at the briefing, which was hosted by the Collaborative for Effective Prescription Opioid Policies (CEPOP), included Dr. Gupta, Proove Biosciences President and CEO Brian Meshkin, Axial Healthcare Chairman and CEO John Donahue, Community Anti-Drug Coalitions of America Chairman and CEO General Arthur T. Dean and Congressman Ami Bera (D-CA-07), led by the Honorable Former Congresswoman Mary Bono.
Dr. Gupta is a Vice Chair and Associate Professor of Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine at Drexel University College of Medicine and a FDA advisor on the AADPAC (Anesthetic and Analgesic Drug Products Advisory Committee). She was invited to speak at the briefing on innovations to treat the opioid crisis.
ASA has been an active leader in federal and state efforts to address the prescription drug abuse crisis. ASA has partnered with the AMA Task Force to Reduce Opioid Abuse, which among other goals, is working to increase physician registration and use of prescription drug monitoring programs, to enhance physician education on opioid prescribing, and to expand access to naloxone. In October, ASA announced its participation in a government-led effort with a number of public and private sector partners to address the opioid epidemic. In 2013, ASA collaborated with the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy to develop an informational card that provides easy-to-understand lifesaving techniques to help friends and family save someone suspected of an opioid overdose. ASA continues to focus on patient safety and being involved in these and other ongoing efforts to promote the safe use of prescription opioids.
