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Article: Actiq painkiller: Tastes like candy, packs a wallop.
- Article from:
- The Salt Lake Tribune (Salt Lake City, UT)
- Article date:
- December 24, 2006
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2006 The Salt Lake Tribune. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Byline: Bob Mims
Dec. 24--For those in the throes of the searing pain of late-stage cancer, Actiq, a Utah-made painkiller on a stick, brings quick, euphoric relief.
But for the very reason the fruit-flavored, lollipop-like narcotic is acclaimed -- it is 80 times more potent than morphine -- Actiq has come under scrutiny by law enforcement and the medical profession because of its addictive nature and unprescribed, or even illicit, use.
Steve Shoemaker oversaw clinical trials for the solid, orally dissolved form of the opioid fentanyl at what was then Anesta Corp. in the late 1990s -- and he still remembers the payoff. The tearful gratitude of ...