Lev Facher
STAT
Washington, DC, United States
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Past articles by Lev:
HHS secretary signals support for new restriction on addiction treatment
HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra signaled that he found a new proposal imposing restrictions on a key addiction-treatment medication struck an appropriate balance between safety and access. → Read More
Becerra: Judge set to rule on abortion pill is 'beginning to read the law'
“Everyone thought by now we would have a ruling from that judge,” HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra said at a STAT event. “My suspicion is he’s beginning to read the law.” → Read More
Amid fentanyl crisis, first-of-its-kind study to evaluate expanded methadone access
A new trial will attempt to compare patients’ ability to remain in treatment when prescribed buprenorphine or methadone in an office setting. → Read More
FDA advisers recommend approval of over-the-counter naloxone to fight opioid overdose
Naloxone is considered the best and only tool available to reverse opioid overdoses. But its prescription status — and its cost — have prevented it from being manufactured and distributed at a larger scale. → Read More
Venture capital is investing little in new treatment for addiction, report finds
A report suggests that, even though U.S. addiction deaths are hovering around their all-time high, drug companies and the investors who back them are unlikely to provide solutions anytime soon. → Read More
Buprenorphine deaths did not increase despite wider access during pandemic, study shows
A new study shows that between July 2019 and June 2021, the share of opioid-related deaths involving buprenorphine dropped from 3.6% to 2.1%. → Read More
The addiction crisis is causing a spike in endocarditis cases. Hospitals are struggling to respond
Increased injection drug use has led to a spike in cases of the life-threatening heart condition endocarditis, with cases rapidly accelerating since the onset of Covid-19. → Read More
3 debates about addiction medicine to watch in 2023
Sen. Ed Markey, and the American Society of Addiction Medicine, have called for many more doctors to be allowed to prescribe methadone directly. → Read More
Addiction treatment got easier during Covid. A new proposal would keep it that way
“The reality is, if it is easier to get illicit drugs in America than it is to get treatment, we will never bend the curve on overdoses,” said Rahul Gupta, the nation's drug czar. → Read More
Biden administration unveils dashboard to track nonfatal drug overdoses
In most of the country, it isn’t known how many people survive drug overdoses — making it difficult to steer resources to specific cities or neighborhoods that need them most. → Read More
Congress has its sights set too low on addiction, advocates charge
Congress appears poised to let Biden’s first two years in office come and go without enacting any significant reforms to the country’s system for preventing and treating addiction. → Read More
Resistance to FDA's opioid-disposal plan raises concerns about CADCA, a powerful advocacy group
CADCA’s relationship with Deterra — and its opposition to a opioid-disposal proposal that would cut into Deterra’s bottom line — is a case study in the murky world of Washington advocacy. → Read More
Top U.S. addiction researcher calls for broad deregulation of methadone
“Methadone is underutilized in part because it requires such stringent conditions in order to be prescribed. We have a pretty powerful health structure in the United States, and we should optimize it to maximize access." → Read More
Fentanyl isn’t just causing overdoses. It’s making it harder to start addiction treatment
Even as fentanyl sends overdose deaths soaring, it threatens to make the world’s most-prescribed addiction drug inaccessible to the increasing number of patients who need it. → Read More
Providers of methadone treatment say a big increase in access could backfire
With overdose deaths appallingly high, advocates say it should be much easier to prescribe methadone. Some providers worry it could do more harm than good. → Read More
When it comes to addiction, Americans’ word choices are part of the problem
“Words matter tremendously, and much of the language we use when we talk about addiction is very dissimilar from the language we use for other health conditions." → Read More
Documents detail how pharmacy giants Walgreens, CVS, and Walmart failed patients in the opioid epidemic
Retail pharmacies shared more of the blame for the opioid crisis than previously reported — through willful blindness, weak controls, resistance from executives to improve monitoring, and in some cases, ineptitude. → Read More
The meth crisis is worse than ever, but new treatments might be around the corner
Meth addiction has no pharmacological treatment options. Could monoclonal antibodies be an answer? → Read More
Fentanyl test strips could help save lives. In many states, they’re still illegal
The practice of “drug-checking” — essentially, testing illicit drugs to see if they contain unknown toxins — has remained controversial even as the crisis of fentanyl deaths has attracted national attention. → Read More
Biden administration has simple way to cut overdose deaths, experts say: expand methadone access
Methadone is a lifesaving treatment for people addicted to opioids. But a vast web of rules and regulations make it extremely difficult to access. → Read More