An estimated 3.5 million cancer patients around the globe are in severe pain from their disease, but many get no relief.
In poor countries the cost is considered too high for drugs like morphine when such opioids are often stolen, abused or not taken according to instruction.
But some Johns Hopkins University scientists have been working on a solution for those patients, as well as some in the United States, that uses a flexible button-sized disk implanted under the skin that releases consistent doses of painkiller over a month. No pills, no measuring, no trips to the clinic.
If an upcoming clinical trial for safety goes well, the device could be available next year,...