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...accidental overdoses related inappropriate use the fentanyl patch, the Food and Drug Administration says.
The patch is applied to the skin and delivers fentanyl, a potent, strong opiate analgesic. The drug is slowly absorbed through the skin into the bloodstream and can relieve pain for up to three days from a single patch application.
"After applying the first patch, it can take 12 to 18 hours to reach the peak of pain relief, with some early pain relief occurring at four to six hours after the first administration," says Donald R. Stanski, M.D., a professor of anesthesia at Stanford University who was involved with the clinical drug development of the first fentanyl patch in the 1980s.
The most frequent use of the fentanyl patch has been to treat pain in people with cancer, and it is only appropriate for patients who have developed a degree of tolerance to the opiate analgesic effects because they have been previously using this type of drug, says Robert J. Meyer, M.D., director of the Office of Drug Evaluation II in the FDA's Center for Drug Evaluation and Research.
"Because the patch provides slow, continuous drug delivery, people...
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