Acamprosate calcium (Campral - Forest) is now being marketed for oral use to maintain abstinence from alcohol. It has been used in France and other countries since 1989.

The FDA has approved tapentadol hydrochloride (Nucynta - Ortho-McNeil Janssen) for oral treatment of moderate to severe acute pain in patients ≥18 years old. It has been classified as a Schedule II controlled substance

New guidelines from The National Cholesterol Education Program recommend, as a therapeutic option, lowering treatment goals for LDL cholesterol (LDL-C) from <100 mg/dL to <70 mg/dL for patients at very high risk for coronary heart disease and from 130 mg/dL to <100 mg/dL for those at moderately high risk. A likely consequence of these recommendations is increased use of statins and use of higher doses with a concomitant increase in adverse effects.

View the Comparison Table: Some Oral/Transdermal Opioid Analgesics

The FDA has approved daridorexant (Quviviq – Idorsia), an orexin receptor antagonist, for treatment of sleep-onset and/or sleep-maintenance insomnia in adults. Daridorexant is the third orexin receptor antagonist to be approved for this indication; suvorexant (Belsomra) and lemborexant (Dayvigo) were approved earlier.

Varenicline tartrate (Chantix - Pfizer) is now available for oral treatment of tobacco dependence. Some other drugs for this indication are listed in this article.

Patients who receive pretravel advice can reduce their risk for many travel-related conditions. Vaccines recommended for travelers are reviewed in a separate issue.