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UC Riverside receives grant to evaluate California’s traditional health care practices benefit

A $1.25 million grant to UC Riverside from the California Department of Health Care Services (DHCS) will support a statewide evaluation of California's traditional health care practices (THCP) benefit.

4 Sep 2026

Understanding opioid risks can help prevent accidental overdoses

According to numbers calculated from the CDC, approximately 80,000 people died last year from a drug overdose, which represents about 21 deaths per 100,000 residents in the U.S. alone. Overdose deaths are preventable, and in most of the cases we see, they are completely accidental.

24 Aug 2026

OIST startup aims to develop effective pain relief without severe side effects

For severe and chronic pain management, opioids are often the only option. This class of drugs comes with well-documented risks, including addiction, respiratory problems and overdose.

18 Aug 2026

Neuroscience-informed therapy provides massive cost-savings for opioid addiction treatment

A new economic evaluation from the University of California San Diego School of Medicine has revealed that Mindfulness-Oriented Recovery Enhancement (MORE) - an innovative, evidence-based, neuroscience-informed therapy for opioid misuse and chronic pain - provides $12 in cost savings for every dollar spent, between two and six times more cost effective than other addiction treatments such as residential or intensive outpatient treatment.

5 Aug 2026

Permanent supportive housing improves health outcomes

The study reveals that permanent supportive housing fosters long-term health improvements, addressing chronic illness and mental health in homeless populations.

28 Jul 2026

Researchers uncover brain target to counter fentanyl-induced slow breathing

Fentanyl causes symptoms that can lead to death from overdose. One of these symptoms is slow breathing, which deprives drug users of oxygen.

20 Jul 2026

Study links severe floods to higher opioid overdose deaths in rural Appalachia

Severe flooding may contribute to higher mortality rates from opioid use in rural Appalachia, according to a study by researchers at Penn State.

20 Jul 2026

Researchers identify opioids with highest risk of respiratory depression

University of Manchester researchers have identified which opioids are most likely to be associated with respiratory depression, in a major new study.

9 Jul 2026

Injectable opioid treatment sees rapid growth across the United States

There was a substantial increase in recent years in the use of a form of the primary medication to treat opioid use disorder, according to a Rutgers Health study.

7 Jul 2026

Opioid prescribing after pediatric surgery varies widely across hospitals

Whether children receive an opioid prescription after surgery varies substantially by procedure type and hospital, according to a new national analysis published in the Journal of the American College of Surgeons (JACS).

1 Jul 2026

NIH funding supports development of AI tools to prevent HIV, hepatitis C and overdose

Natasha Martin, DPhil, professor and vice chief of Global Public Health in the Division of Infectious Diseases and Global Public Health at UC San Diego School of Medicine, has been awarded a five-year, $5.6 million Avant-Garde Award from the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), one of the most prestigious and competitive NIH research awards.

23 Jun 2026

Reductions in syringe service program funding could increase overdose deaths

A new study published today in JAMA Network Open projects that reductions in federal funding for syringe service programs (SSPs) could lead to substantial increases in mortality among people who inject drugs in the United States.

18 Jun 2026

Naloxone provides life-saving tool to reverse opioid overdoses

Anyone can save a life during an opioid overdose with naloxone, a front-line defense in the nation's overdose crisis.

16 Jun 2026

Experimental vaccine protects against fentanyl and related opioids

Fentanyl and related variants of the synthetic opioid kill more Americans each year than car accidents and gun violence combined. In too-high doses, the drugs hijack brain chemistry and shut down the signals that control breathing.

11 Jun 2026

Researchers identify hidden self-harm histories using machine learning

Important mental health history is often present in medical records but hard to find, especially when it is missing from the diagnosis codes that clinicians, researchers and health systems use to search and count conditions.

5 Jun 2026

Falling fentanyl deaths drive historic drop in American drug overdoses

Researchers from the University of California San Diego have found that U.S. overdose death rates declined dramatically between 2023 and 2024, marking the first recorded drop in all four waves of the nation's overdose crisis.

2 Jun 2026

Innovative platform bridges the gap between OUD treatment and HIV prevention

People with opioid use disorder (OUD) are at increased risk of contracting human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). While there are effective interventions that can substantially reduce HIV incidence and opioid overdose, like pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) and medications for opioid use disorder (MOUD), many patients still face barriers to accessing and staying engaged in care.

22 May 2026

Real-time memory tests identify alcohol-induced blackouts as they happen

It's not surprising if someone experiences memory loss, or a 'blackout,' while drinking alcohol. While common, blackouts are considered a public health concern linked to injury, arrest, assault and overdose.

20 May 2026

ExiVex reports in-human pharmacokinetic data showing EMRX-101 intranasal naloxone approaches IV-like peak plasma concentrations with substantially faster Tmax than currently approved comparator

ExiVex Biopharma (formerly EmerRx Biopharma), a clinical-stage pharmaceutical company developing a proprietary dual-chamber intranasal drug delivery platform, today announced in-human pharmacokinetic (PK) data for its lead candidate EMRX-101, an intranasal naloxone product targeting opioid-induced respiratory depression.

From Hanson Wade Group - 4th Nasal Formulation & Delivery Summit 15 May 2026

Opioid overdose survivors face elevated mortality risk within one year

After an emergency department visit for an opioid overdose, 9 per cent of individuals died and 21 per cent experienced a repeat opioid overdose in the following year, according to a new study from ICES and the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH).

7 May 2026