Action against opioid misuse gaining traction, report finds

A new report from industry analyst IQVIA Institute for Human Data Scienc has found that opioid prescriptions in the USA have declined 17% in the last year, the largest annual drop ever.

The researchers found that while the volume of opioid prescriptions increased every year since 1992, a series of regulatory and legislative measures enacted in 2011 caused a 4% year-on-year decline, followed by a 12% decline in 2017 and a 17% drop in 2018.

In recent years, the USA has been in the grip of an opioid crisis, with  pharmaceutical marketing practices blamed for widespread overprescribing and subsequent opioid misuse.