Fentanyl News and Research

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Fentanyl is a powerful synthetic opiate analgesic similar to but more potent than morphine. It is typically used to treat patients with severe pain, or to manage pain after surgery. It is also sometimes used to treat people with chronic pain who are physically tolerant to opiates. It is a schedule II prescription drug.

Pregnant and addicted: Homeless women see hope in street medicine

Five days after giving birth, Melissa Crespo was already back on the streets, recovering in a damp, litter-strewn water tunnel, when she got the call from the hospital.

18 Oct 2023

Drug overdose deaths disproportionately affect Americans without college education

Drug overdose deaths increased sharply among Americans without a college education and nearly doubled over a three-year period among those who don't have a high school diploma, according to a new RAND Corporation study.

6 Oct 2023

More schools stock overdose reversal meds, but others worry about stigma

Last year, a student fell unconscious after walking out of a bathroom at Central High School in Pueblo, Colorado.

3 Oct 2023

Officials agree: Use settlement funds to curb youth addiction. But the ‘how’ gets hairy.

When three teenagers died of fentanyl overdoses last year in Larimer County, Colorado, it shocked the community and “flipped families upside down,” said Tom Gonzales, the county’s public health director.

25 Sep 2023

New study suggests higher buprenorphine doses could help save lives

Individuals with opioid use disorder who were prescribed a lower buprenorphine dose were 20% more likely to discontinue treatment than those on a higher dose, according to a study of patients prescribed buprenorphine in Rhode Island from 2016 to 2020, as fentanyl became widely available.

19 Sep 2023

Experts provide guidance on opioid management in individuals with cancer-related pain

Clinicians treating cancer-related pain must consider whether and how to prescribe opioids to patients who use nonmedical stimulants such as cocaine and methamphetamines; however, no guidelines exist related to these common and challenging situations.

15 Sep 2023

Study: Drug overdose deaths in the U.S. more than quadrupled from 1999 to 2020

The United States is experiencing its highest overall death rates in more than a century, fueled in part by drug overdose mortality. The origins of the current epidemic are due, at least in part, to a 1986 World Health Organization pronouncement that pain treatment is a universal right.

12 Sep 2023

Study highlights risks of high-dose naloxone in opioid overdose response

Whether regular distribution of two intranasal or intramuscular administrations of low-dose naloxone was effective and adequate in reversing opioid overdoses.

4 Sep 2023

New antibody shows promise in reversing carfentanil overdoses

An antibody in single-chain fragment variable (scFv) format that binds to the powerful opioid carfentanil was shown to reverse signs of carfentanil overdose in preclinical tests conducted by scientists at Scripps Research.

7 Aug 2023

The painful legacy of ‘law and order’ treatment of addiction in jail

Megan Dunn, who has struggled with addiction since her teens, points to the moment her life went "deeply downhill."

19 Jul 2023

Fentanyl overdose reversal: New hope on the horizon

According to the Centers for Disease Control, 100,000 Americans die each year from an overdose, most due to the use of synthetic opiates like fentanyl. While naloxone, currently the only an antidote for opiate overdose, has become more common, it is less effective against fentanyl-class synthetic opioids.

18 Jul 2023

Opioids linked to increased risk of death in older adults with dementia

The study population included everyone in Denmark aged 65 and older diagnosed with dementia between Jan. 1, 2008 and Dec. 31, 2018 (n=75,471), including both home-living and nursing home residents. Of that group, 42% (31,619) of those diagnosed with dementia redeemed a prescription for an opioid at a pharmacy.

18 Jul 2023

The ethics of nanobiotechnology: A call for global regulation

Prosthetics moved by thoughts. Targeted treatments for aggressive brain cancer. Soldiers with enhanced vision or bionic ears.

13 Jul 2023

AMP releases consensus recommendations for CYP3A4 and CYP3A5 genotyping assays

The Association for Molecular Pathology (AMP), the premier global molecular diagnostic professional society, today published consensus recommendations to aid in the design and validation of clinical CYP3A4 and CYP3A5 genotyping assays, promote standardization of testing across different laboratories, and improve patient care.

10 Jul 2023

Opioid overdose deaths may be reduced by increasing access to prescription opioid painkillers

Increasing access to prescription opioid painkillers may reduce opioid overdose deaths in the United States, according to a Rutgers study.

27 Jun 2023

Research unveils crucial insights into the brain's potential ability to regulate fentanyl consumption

The opioid crisis continues to pose a grave public health concern, with synthetic opioids such as fentanyl posing a major risk for development of addiction and death due to overdose.

26 Jun 2023

Race- and gender-specific interventions may be more effective at preventing overdose deaths

Interventions to address stimulant and opioid use that consider race and gender may prove more effective at preventing overdose deaths than current methods, according to a Penn State-led team of researchers who studied how drug treatment admissions and overdose deaths differed among race and gender.

26 Jun 2023

Study reveals wide discrepancies among U.S. states in treating opioid use disorder

Despite a national opioid overdose epidemic supercharged by a surge of illicit fentanyl, new research from Oregon Health & Science University reveals wide discrepancies among U.S. states in effectively treating opioid use disorder among people covered by Medicaid.

23 Jun 2023

Xylazine can exacerbate the life-threatening effects of opioids, rat study shows

A new study in rats suggests that xylazine, the active ingredient in a non-opioid veterinary tranquilizer not approved for human use, can worsen the life-threatening effects of opioids.

21 Jun 2023

Opioid settlement payouts to localities made public for first time

Thousands of local governments nationwide are receiving settlement money from companies that made, sold, or distributed opioid painkillers, like Johnson & Johnson, AmerisourceBergen, and Walmart.

16 Jun 2023