FDA’s new resource guide to support responsible opioid prescribing for pain management in animals

As FDA Commissioner, addressing the opioid epidemic and the misuse and abuse of these drugs remains one of my highest priorities. As we look at tackling the opioid crisis, it’s important that we take a close look at all the access points where these powerful medications can be obtained. We must also ensure that all health care professionals understand their role and responsibility in prescribing these products, and lend our support in appropriately managing them. One such important care group is veterinarians who may prescribe them to manage pain in animals.The FDA remains committed to addressing the epidemic on all fronts, with a significant focus on decreasing exposure to opioids and preventing new addiction by taking steps to encourage more appropriate prescribing. One of the key ways we offer support to health care providers who have a nexus to prescription opioids is encouraging them to take advantage of any available opportunity to educate themselves about the safe use of opioids. When it comes to the prescribing of these drugs in humans, we have worked carefully on developing a framework for the content for these trainings made available through the Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategy (REMS) program for opioid analgesics. Our training “blueprint” provides information on acute and chronic pain management; safe use of opioid analgesics or other non-opioid or non-drug treatments; as well as material on addiction medicine and opioid use disorders.