Opioid Use Disorder Undertreated with FDA Approved Medications

Newswise — Though research shows that medication-assisted treatment can help people who are addicted to opioids, the three drugs approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) are underused, according to a review of current medical data on opioid addiction in the U.S. This review appears in the...

Other Medication Use on the Rise When Buprenorphine Prescribed?

Newswise – Patients receiving buprenorphine for treatment of opioid use disorder (OUD) are more likely to use medications for chronic, unrelated conditions, suggests a study in the September issue of Medical Care. The journal is published in the Lippincott portfolio by Wolters Kluwer.

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Faster, Safer Treatment for Opioid Use Disorder?

Buprenorphine and methadone are the most common medications currently used to treat opioid use disorder; both, however, are also opioids and can result in unwanted side effects. Additionally, treatment with these options often must be continued for months to prevent relapse. But an experimental...

Reduce Opioid Addiction Risk—By Adding Cannabis?

Conclusions from a recent study on rhesus monkeys suggest that combining opioids with marijuana may be an effective approach to reducing opioid dosage levels and attendant dependency risk while maintaining overall analgesia. The study found that cognitive impairment, including impulsivity and memory...

Vaccinating Against Opioid Use Disorder and Abuse?

With funding provided by a grant from the National Institutes for Health, a research team at the University of New Mexico Health Sciences Center is seeking to develop a vaccine that would stimulate the patient’s immune system to produce antibodies that would attack an ingested opioid. If successful...

Medication-Based Treatment for Opioid Use Disorder

A committee convened by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine has issued a report that examines the evidence for medication-based treatment of opioid use disorder (OUD) and outlines the impediments that providers and patients currently face to accessing care. The authors...

“Substantially Underapplied”: Responding to Opioid Overdose

Although medication assisted treatment offers great promise for survivors of opioid overdose, a new study led by researchers from Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health reports that it is being substantially underapplied at the epicenter of the opioid crisis. The study of nonfatal opioid...