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Our education and advocacy campaign to support families navigating pain management options provides the resources and information needed to support appropriate prescribing, shared decision-making with providers, and access to treatment innovations.
An estimated 80 million Americans receive medicine for acute pain each year. 1 Furthermore, to help manage pain approximately 125 million opioid prescriptions were dispensed to patients in 2023.2 Although opioids can be effective, they can also pose significant risks to an individual’s health, putting individuals at a higher risk for developing an opioid use disorder (OUD).
With a high prevalence of acute pain and OUD, which impact more than 5 million Americans3, it is critical families and caregivers receive the support they need to make the most informed decisions about pain management treatment options. To do so, the pain education campaign provides educational materials, webinars and other resources to help families and caregivers navigate available options.
In addition, the pain education campaign, together with CAN’s FAM will create, educate, and advocate for policies and programs that help address pain management so that all families, caregivers, and patients have the tools and resources they need to thrive.
Learn more about pain management and the work of Take Control of Pain through the resources below.
5+ million Americans
live with opioid use disorder
Source: Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration
Pain Management Resources
The Opioid Epidemic and Need for Parity in Pain Treatment
The ongoing opioid epidemic has touched almost every American in one way or another, emphasizing the need for solutions to prevent addiction. Learn how parity would create equal access to non-opioid treatment options and prevent addiction before it begins.
Empowering Families in Health Policy Decision-Making
Learn how to drive change to better support families navigating health challenges, hear from experts about how to work directly with state and federal representatives and see how empowered patients and care partners make a difference on key topics such as ICER meetings.
Staying SAFE: A Pain Management Conversation
It is critical patients have the information they need to make the most informed decisions about their treatment options. This guide can help you navigate treatment options and keep your family safe.
Steering Committee
Made possible with support from Vertex Pharmaceuticals
About Vertex:
Vertex is a global biotechnology company that invests in scientific innovation to create transformative medicines for people with serious diseases and conditions. The company has approved therapies for cystic fibrosis, sickle cell disease, transfusion-dependent beta thalassemia, acute pain and acromegaly, and it continues to advance clinical and research programs in these areas. Vertex also has a robust clinical pipeline of investigational therapies across a range of modalities in other serious diseases where it has deep insight into causal human biology, including IgA nephropathy, neuropathic pain, APOL1-mediated kidney disease, primary membranous nephropathy, congenital adrenal hyperplasia, ACTH-dependent Cushing’s syndrome, autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease, type 1 diabetes, generalized myasthenia gravis, and myotonic dystrophy type 1.
Vertex was founded in 1989 and has its global headquarters in Boston, with international headquarters in London. Additionally, the company has research and development sites and commercial offices in North America, Europe, Australia, Latin America and the Middle East. Vertex is consistently recognized as one of the industry’s top places to work, including 16 consecutive years on Science magazine’s Top Employers list and one of Fortune’s 100 Best Companies to Work For.
- Lopez A, Jones J, Menzie AM, Peta S, Ippolito A, Rubin J. An evaluation of the prevalence of acute and chronic pain medication use in the United States: a real-world database analysis. Presented at: ASRA Annual Pain Medicine Meeting; November 10-11, 2023; New Orleans, LA.
- About Prescription Opioids. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. https://www.cdc.gov/overdose-prevention/about/prescription-opioids.html.
- Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. (2024). Key substance use and mental health indicators in the United States: Results from the 2023 National Survey on Drug Use and Health, https://www.samhsa.gov/data/report/2023-nsduh-annual-national-report