safety

World Patient Safety Day

17 September 2019

Global Campaign

In May 2019, the 72nd World Health Assembly endorsed the establishment of World Patient Safety Day to be observed annually on the 17th of September.

The main objective of World Patient Safety Day is to raise global awareness about patient safety and encourage global solidarity and action.

Effectiveness Bank Analysis: “Game-Changer” Opiate Addiction Medication Proves Effective in US Trial

Scientific article

12 April 2019

Medication of the type heralded as a possible “game-changer” by one of the UK’s leading addiction treatment clinicians and researchers proved its worth in a US placebo-controlled trial. Buprenorphine injections with effects lasting a month...

Effectiveness Bank Analysis: UPDATED Long-Acting Buprenorphine an Advance on Daily Doses

Scientific article

22 February 2019

*Updated with UK licensing information and advice released in February 2019 by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence* What could prove a technical advance in the medication-based treatment of dependence on heroin and allied...

Effectiveness Bank Analysis: Think More Than Twice Before Detoxifying from Methadone

Book

9 November 2018

Think more than twice before detoxifying from methadone was the message of a study based on the unusually detailed records kept by the Canadian province of British Columbia. It established what seemed the best way to taper from methadone...

A Double Blind, Placebo Controlled Trial of Modafinil for the Treatment of Cocaine Dependence without Co-Morbid Alcohol Dependence

Scientific article

1 July 2015

Like methadone for heroin dependence, modafinil is an oral medication with similar effects to cocaine but milder, slower in onset and longer-acting - properties which might help plug the gap in effective pharmacotherapies for dependence on...

Effectiveness Bank Analysis: French Committee Says Risks of Baclofen Outweigh Benefits in Alcohol Treatment

News

*Updated* Our commentary on the first trial to rigorously test high-dose baclofen to treat dependent drinking has been updated with the release on 24 April 2018 of an opinion on the balance between safety and benefits from a scientific...

Methadone Induction in Primary Care for Opioid Dependence: A Pragmatic Randomized Trial

Scientific article

22 November 2014

From France the first study to randomly allocate patients to start methadone maintenance either in primary care or at a specialist centre found primary care more attractive to patients and no less safe or effective at reducing street-opioid...

A Randomized, Open Label Trial of Methadone Continuation versus Forced Withdrawal in a Combined US Prison and Jail

Scientific article

11 March 2018

Effectiveness Bank Analysis: Keep Maintaining Opiate-Dependent Prisoners From the USA, a rare randomised trial found in favour of continuing methadone maintenance when patients entered prison rather than compulsory withdrawal. The potential...

Supervised Dosing with a Long-Acting Opioid Medication in the Management of Opioid Dependence

Scientific article

20 June 2017

Trials challenge the need for the widely accepted policy of making opioid-dependent patients take their methadone or other opioid substitutes at the clinic or pharmacy, but ‘no difference’ findings may be due to the limitations of the...

Systematic Review: Efficacy and Safety of Medical Marijuana in Selected Neurologic Disorders

Scientific article

29 April 2014

ABSTRACT Objective: To determine the efficacy of medical marijuana in several neurologic conditions. Methods: We performed a systematic review of medical marijuana (1948–November 2013) to address treatment of symptoms of multiple sclerosis...