Millennium Research Institute and UC San Diego Present Data on Pain Treatment at American Academy of Pain Medicine Annual Meeting

SAN DIEGO, Feb. 24, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- The Millennium Research Institute (MRI), a non-profit national research center formed in 2010 by Millennium Laboratories, and the Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences at the University of California, San Diego announced today that they will present scientific data at the American Academy of Pain Medicine's 28th Annual Meeting (AAPM). Through its partnership with MRI, UCSD doctoral pharmacy students will present seven posters that address the metabolism, patient adherence, co-prescriptions, and drug-drug interactions of prescription pain medications. The posters will be presented during today's poster session from 2 – 5pm.

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"The data presented at this year's AAPM meeting informs the unaddressed issue of patients not taking their prescribed medication and how it affects their care. If we understand medication-taking behaviors of patients, we can improve pain management," said Amadeo J. Pesce, PhD, DABCC, principal investigator at MRI and UCSD Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences partnership director and student mentor.

MRI provides the UCSD Skaggs School of Pharmacy faculty and doctoral-level (PharmD) student researchers with the resources necessary for original studies in the areas of metabolic monitoring of pain medications, drug testing and toxicology. The joint research program serves the missions of both MRI and UC San Diego to advance research that helps minimize the adverse events often associated with the use of pain medications, enhances patient safety and enables better treatment for pain.

"We value our successful collaboration with MRI, now in its third year. This joint research program, which combines the top students in this tier-one pharmacy program and the leading pain-focused national research center, continues to generate original research papers and posters regarding the patterns of drug metabolism and drug-drug interactions. This information has the potential to improve care for patients taking prescription pain medications," said Rabia Atayee, PharmD, BCPS, assistant professor of clinical pharmacy at the UCSD Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences.

Highlights of research posters include:

• Patients who take their hydrocodone, oxycodone, or morphine medications are less likely to also take illicit drugs.
• In patients on buprenorphine therapy it was noted that 21 percent were also prescribed benzodiazepine and 34 percent were taking non-prescribed benzodiazepines, both with the potential for serious drug-drug interactions.
• In a study of meperidine (Demerol®) prescribing practices, the majority of subjects prescribed meperidine were concurrently prescribed another opioid and nearly half were prescribed a benzodiazepine.

A full list of the posters, their presentation times and locations will be available at Millennium Laboratories' booth #324 in the main AAPM exhibit hall.

About the Millennium Research Institute
As part of the company's commitment to pain management research and education, Millennium Laboratories established the Millennium Research Institute. The Millennium Research Institute is a national research center that conducts and disseminates original research as well as collaborates with other researchers focused on improving the experiences of people suffering from pain and pain-related disorders. The Institute maintains several national academic partnerships and supports collaborative research by accessing Millennium Laboratories' unique de-identified database representing the U.S. pain population.

With world-class scientific researchers, laboratory experts and toxicologists led by principal investigator Amadeo J. Pesce, PhD, the Millennium Research Institute is focused on promoting excellence in the treatment of pain and minimizing the suffering and social consequences of prescription drug abuse, addiction, and diversion. In addition, Millennium Laboratories' psychologists, psychiatrists, pharmacists and allied health professionals further the Institute's goals through medical education programs and advocacy of national standards and guidelines to assure safe prescribing practices. For more information, visit the website www.millenniumresearchinstitute.org.

About the Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences
The Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences at the University of California, San Diego was founded in 2000 and admitted its first class in 2002. The mission of the School is to provide the highest quality pharmaceutical education, pharmaceutical sciences research, and public service programs in Southern California, and to advance the pharmaceutical science and the clinical care and therapeutic counseling provided by the faculty, the PharmD and PhD students, and the post-doctoral fellows and residents. For more information, visits the Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences website www.pharmacy.ucsd.edu.

SOURCE Millennium Research Institute