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.

Mount Sinai receives NIH grant to study overdoses linked to synthetic opioids

The Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai has been awarded a $3.8 million grant from the National Institute on Drug Abuse, a division of the National Institutes of Health, to study drug overdose cases linked to novel synthetic opioids.

10 Jun 2025

Stanford scientists grow vascularized heart and liver organoids

For over a decade, scientists have been growing organoids - small clusters of cells that mimic a particular organ - to serve as miniature biological models.

6 Jun 2025

Wayne State researchers investigate effects of fentanyl use during pregnancy

A new National Institutes of Health (NIH) grant will aid Wayne State University researchers in measuring the effects of fentanyl during pregnancy on maternal behaviors and offspring at birth through early development.

5 Jun 2025

3 things to watch on mental health in Trump’s early budget proposals

Since President Donald Trump released his 2026 budget blueprint in early May, calling for $163 billion in federal spending cuts, much of the attention has focused on his slashing of foreign aid and boosting of border security.

21 May 2025

Study reveals low rate of opioid addiction medications after overdose

Medications proven to effectively treat opioid addiction are rarely given after emergency department visits for overdose, and who gets them varies, sometimes greatly, depending on race, ethnicity or geography, University of Michigan researchers say.

12 May 2025

Illicit fentanyl use in the U.S. far higher than previously reported

More Americans use illicit opioids such as fentanyl than previously estimated, highlighting the need for better methods to understand the depths of the opioid crisis, according to a new study.

10 May 2025

Innovative technology instantly spots street drugs

A portable device that can instantly detect dangerous street drugs at extremely low concentrations has been developed at the University of Bath in the UK.

7 May 2025

Despite historic indictment, doctors will keep mailing abortion pills across state lines

When the news broke on Jan. 31 that a New York physician had been indicted for shipping abortion medications to a woman in Louisiana, it stoked fear across the network of doctors and medical clinics who engage in similar work.

6 May 2025

Leveraging the Radian ASAP in standard casework

Explore how the Radian ASAP mass spectrometer is being used to streamline and enhance seized drug screening.

From Waters Advanced Diagnostics 30 Apr 2025

As a diversity grant dies, young scientists fear it will haunt their careers

Adelaide Tovar, a University of Michigan scientist who researches genes related to diabetes, used to feel like an impostor in a laboratory. Tovar, 32, grew up poor and was the first in her family to graduate from high school. During her first year in college, she realized she didn't know how to study.

29 Apr 2025

Opioid control policies linked to drop in domestic violence

A new study led by the University of South Florida reveals opioid control policies may offer broader public health benefits, including reducing instances of domestic violence.

18 Apr 2025

Economic downturns linked to shorter life expectancy for less-educated Americans

Fifty years of economic change have taken a heavy toll on some Americans, especially those with less education who not only have been left behind but are sicker and living shorter lives, according to new research.

18 Apr 2025

Safe and simple ways to dispose of unused medicines

Is your medicine cabinet full of expired drugs or medications you no longer use? The best way to dispose of most types of expired, unwanted or unused medicines is through a drug take-back program.

16 Apr 2025

Hit hard by opioid crisis, Black patients further hurt by barriers to care

Purple flags, representing the nearly 300 Mecklenburg County residents who died of opioid overdose in 2023, fluttered in the humid breeze last August in recognition of International Overdose Awareness Day on the city’s predominantly Black west side.

2 Apr 2025

Study reveals significant racial and sex disparities in drug overdose mortality rates

A recent study from Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health reveals significant racial and sex disparities in drug overdose mortality rates.

1 Apr 2025

UN Commission on Narcotic Drugs places six substances under international control following WHO recommendations

Following recommendations by the World Health Organization (WHO), the United Nations Commission on Narcotic Drugs (CND) has decided to place five new psychoactive substances and one medicine under international control.

14 Mar 2025

Study finds no link between Medicaid expansion and opioid misuse

A new study has found that extending state Medicaid coverage did not increase the likelihood of prescription opioid or benzodiazepine misuse among people who use drugs.

11 Mar 2025

Hormones may drive the differences in opioid misuse between men and women

The opioid epidemic has claimed more than half a million lives in the U.S. since 1999, about three-quarters of them men, according to the National Institutes of Health.

10 Mar 2025

Fentanyl poisonings among children in the U.S. increase sharply over eight years

Incidents of children in the U.S. being poisoned by the synthetic opioid fentanyl "increased and became more severe", a new study reveals.

8 Mar 2025

Opioid cash grab: As federal funding dries up, states turn to settlement money

At a recent Nevada legislative committee hearing, lawmakers faced off with members of the governor's administration over how to fill gaping holes in the state's upcoming budget.

25 Feb 2025