Papaveretum 40mg/1ml solution for injection ampoules
Requires a prescription from a doctor or prescriber
Strict controls: safe custody, register required
Legal requirements and restrictions
These are medicines with high potential for misuse but with accepted medical uses. Subject to the strictest controls.
Legal requirements
- Must be stored in a locked controlled drugs cabinet
- Pharmacy must keep a controlled drugs register
- Prescriptions valid for 28 days only
- Prescriptions must include specific details (dose, form, strength, total quantity)
- Cannot be emergency supplied by pharmacists
Other medicines in this category
Morphine, Oxycodone, Fentanyl, Methylphenidate (Ritalin), Amphetamines
Official documents, adverse reaction reporting, and safety monitoring
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Safety monitoring data
Yellow Card reports
The MHRA Yellow Card scheme collects reports of suspected side effects from healthcare professionals and patients. View the Drug Analysis Profile (iDAP) for real-world adverse reaction data.
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Suspected adverse reactions reported for Papaveretum
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Submit a Yellow Card report to the MHRA
Data from the MHRA Yellow Card scheme. A reported reaction does not necessarily mean the medicine caused it. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
EudraVigilance
The European Medicines Agency (EMA) collects suspected adverse reaction reports from across the EU/EEA through the EudraVigilance system. Search for safety data on this medicine.
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EudraVigilance data is published by the European Medicines Agency (EMA). A suspected adverse reaction is not necessarily caused by the medicine.
1 branded products available
Therapeutically similar medicines
Similarity is based on WHO Anatomical Therapeutic Chemical (ATC) classification and on a factual NHS dm+d therapeutic-grouping code prefix. Source data: NHS dm+d via TRUD (OGL v3.0), WHO ATC/DDD Index.
NHS prescribing volume and spending trends
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Search for this medicine at major UK pharmacy chains. These links open the retailer's own website — results depend on their current online catalogue.
Supply & safety information
Official UK regulator monitoring and safety alerts
Pharmacy links redirect to the retailer's own search and do not represent real-time stock levels. Shortage and safety information sourced from MHRA drug safety updates (gov.uk, Crown Copyright under OGL v3.0).
Codes for healthcare professionals and prescribing systems
These codes are used by healthcare IT systems and prescribers to identify this medicine.
NHS UK identifiers
Browse tools
SNOMED CT and dm+d codes from NHS TRUD (Technology Reference data Update Distribution), licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. BNF code shown is the factual mapping value distributed by NHS Business Services Authority (NHSBSA) in the dm+d supplementary file under OGL v3.0; it is not affiliated with, nor licensed from, the publishers of the British National Formulary. ATC codes from the WHO Collaborating Centre for Drug Statistics Methodology (whocc.no).
Active and completed clinical studies from ClinicalTrials.gov
Source: ClinicalTrials.gov, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine (NLM), National Institutes of Health (NIH). Data accessed via ClinicalTrials.gov API v2. Trial information is provided for research purposes and does not constitute medical advice.
Academic studies and reviews for this medicine's active substance
Showing the 50 most relevant studies.
Reviews & meta-analyses: 1 · 1966–2026
Showing the 50 most relevant studies, sorted by most relevant.
Mathieson S, Zadro JR, Narayan SW, et al.
2026
- Analgesics, Opioid
- Acute Pain
- Systematic Reviews as Topic
BackgroundOpioids are commonly prescribed for acute pain. However, there is no overarching synthesis on their efficacy.AimWe set out to conduct an overview review of the efficacy and harms of opioid analgesics for acute pain.MethodsElectronic databases were searched until 4 March 2025 without restriction for systematic reviews of randomised trials comparing opioids to placebo/no active treatment for any acute, non-malignant pain condition published since 2010. Screening, extraction and quality assessment were conducted independently by two authors. The primary outcome was pain. Secondary outcomes were adverse events. Data timepoints were immediate (≤ 3 h after administration-primary timepoint), short (> 3 to ≤ 6 h), intermediate (> 6 to ≤ 48 h) and long term (> 48 h). Random effect meta-analyses were conducted. AMSTAR 2 described review quality. Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation determined evidence certainty.ResultsWe included 59 reviews. There was high certainty some opioids (morphine, oxycodone, tramadol, papaveretum) reduced acute abdominal pain at immediate term (mean difference [MD] - 18.4, 95% CI - 31.9 to - 5.0) compared with placebo. However, there were no harms data. At immediate term, there was moderate certainty opioids reduced pain including dental surgery (MD - 19.5, 95% CI - 25.0 to - 14.0), and myringotomy (MD - 15.0, 95% CI - 19.6 to - 10.4). However, harms data were only available for dental surgery, finding no increased risk of adverse events. Oral opioids provided only very small pain relief for acute musculoskeletal pain at intermediate term (MD - 8.9, 95% CI - 13.5 to - 4.3; moderate certainty) but increased the risk of adverse events (risk difference [RD] 0.1, 95% CI 0.0 to 0.2; moderate certainty).LimitationsSome opioids are not consistently efficacious across timepoints.ConclusionsOpioid analgesics are efficacious in reducing pain in some acute conditions.RegistrationROSPERO CRD42018109733.
Abstract licence: CC BY-NC
M. Bone, D. Fell
Anaesthesia, 1988
- Tonsillectomy
- Diclofenac
- Opium
Andrea M. Nolan, J. Reid
Veterinary Record, 1993
- Dogs
- Opium
- Carbazoles
C. E. Harris, R. M. Grounds, A. M. Murray, et al.
Anaesthesia, 1990
- Propofol
- Respiration, Artificial
- Critical Care
D. Harle, B. Baldo, N. Coroneos, et al.
Anesthesiology, 1989
- Anaphylaxis
- Opium
- Morphine
Oxford English Dictionary, 2023
J. Catling, D. Pinto, C. Jordan, et al.
British Medical Journal, 1980
- Cholecystectomy
- Carbon Dioxide
- Oxygen
A. Webb, J. Doherty, M. Chester, et al.
Respiratory medicine, 1989
- Bronchoscopy
- Fiber Optic Technology
- Opium
D. Correia, Andrea M. Nolan, J. Reid
Research in veterinary science, 1996
- Sheep
- Ketamine
- Propofol
J. G. Hannington‐Kiff
Anaesthesia, 1985
- Otorhinolaryngologic Diseases
- Opium
- Oxazocines
Sources: aggregated from Europe PMC (EMBL-EBI), OpenAlex, Crossref, PubMed and other open scholarly databases. Retracted articles are excluded. Study information is provided for research purposes and does not constitute medical advice.
Structured knowledge from the free knowledge base
ATC classifications (Wikidata)
Linked open data from Wikidata (Q4334652), a free and open knowledge base operated by the Wikimedia Foundation. Data is available under the Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Public Domain Dedication.
Scientific data (pharmacology, interactions, ADME) is not yet available for this medicine. Clinical sections are sourced from the NHS dm+d database.