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Injection of opioids may increase infective endocarditis risk

People who inject drugs are at a high risk for a number of health issues. In a new study from ICES, Lawson Health Research Institute and Western University, researchers discovered a significant rise in the risk of infective endocarditis, a serious heart infection, among Ontarians who inject drugs.

28 Jan 2019

Researchers discover extent of opioid use and abuse in head and neck cancer patients

Cancer patients are often prescribed pain medications, for example during recovery from surgical procedures. However, for many cancer patients, the use of opioid pain medications during treatment can be a gateway to misuse or addiction once treatment ends.

27 Dec 2018

Fentanyl surpasses heroin in cause of U.S. drug overdose deaths

According to a new report from health officials, Fentanyl – a synthetic opioid drug, is surpassing heroin as cause of drug overdose deaths in the United States. The report was released 12th of December 2018 in the CDC’s National Vital Statistics Report.

13 Dec 2018

Virginia Tech and UC San Diego researchers team up to develop nonopioid drug for chronic pain

Researchers from the Virginia Tech School of Neuroscience are teaming with the University of California San Diego and the U.S. National Institutes of Health to develop a drug -- now in its earliest stages -- that can treat certain types of chronic pain without the addictive consequences of opioids.

12 Dec 2018

VCU researchers test vaccine against opioid abuse

Virginia Commonwealth University researchers are testing a vaccine against opioid abuse developed by the Scripps Research Institute in California. The vaccine is meant to block the effects of heroin and fentanyl in patients with opioid use disorder.

7 Dec 2018

Study examines trends in opioids prescribed for children and adolescents

While the opioid crisis remains a major public health concern in the United States for people of all ages, relatively little research has been conducted in younger populations.

28 Nov 2018

$People with Alzheimer’s disease using strong opioids have increased risk of hip fracture$

People with Alzheimer’s disease using strong opioids have increased risk of hip fracture

People using strong painkillers, opioids, have twice the risk of hip fracture compared to non-opioid users, a new study from the University of Eastern Finland shows. The risk was highest in the first two months of opioid use.

26 Nov 2018

Congress targets misuse of hospice drugs

Hospice workers would be allowed to destroy patients’ unneeded opioids, reducing the risk that families misuse them, according to one little-noticed provision in the bipartisan opioids bill headed to President Donald Trump’s desk for his likely signature.

5 Oct 2018

Workers overdose on the job, and employers struggle to respond

Jimmy Sullivan prepared for his job as a bricklayer the same way every morning for years: injecting a shot of heroin before leaving his car.

28 Sep 2018

Scientists develop new protocol for measuring background levels of drugs in forensic labs

When crime lab chemists handle evidence that contains illegal drugs, trace amounts of those drugs are inevitably released into the laboratory environment.

27 Sep 2018

Ensysce receives award from NIDA to undertake development of opioid overdose protection platform

Ensysce Biosciences Inc. today announced receipt of Notice of Award from the National Institute on Drug Abuse, a four year award to undertake the pre-clinical and clinical development of the company's opioid overdose protection platform MPAR

17 Sep 2018

Nearly one in three opioid prescriptions in the US not justified, finds analysis

According to a nationwide analysis of physician visit records conducted by a team of researchers at Harvard Medical School and the RAND Corporation, nearly 30 percent of the outpatient opioid prescriptions made out in the United States do not have documented justification for their use.

12 Sep 2018

Researchers take major step forward in finding safe and non-addictive pain killer

With the support of the National Institute on Drug Abuse, scientists at Wake Forest School of Medicine have been working to find a safe, non-addictive pain killer to help fight the current opioid crisis in this country.

30 Aug 2018

Illicit drug use is higher during celebratory events, may be worse than previously thought

America's drug problem may be even worse than officials realize. And illicit drugs are consumed at a higher rate during celebratory events. Those are just two of the conclusions scientists have drawn from recent studies of drug residues in sewage.

20 Aug 2018

Johns Hopkins expert panel develops first set of operation-specific opioid prescribing guidelines

A Johns Hopkins expert panel of health care providers and patients have announced what is, to their knowledge, the nation's first set of operation-specific opioid prescribing guidelines.

14 Aug 2018

How rival opioid makers sought to cash in on alarm over oxycontin’s dangers

As Purdue Pharma faced mounting criticism over deaths linked to OxyContin, rival drugmakers saw a chance to boost sales by stepping up marketing of similarly dangerous painkillers, such as fentanyl, morphine and methadone, Purdue internal documents reveal.

2 Aug 2018

Patients with chronic pain feel caught in an opioid-prescribing debate

It started with a rolled ankle during a routine Army training exercise. Shannon Hubbard never imagined it was the prologue to one of the most debilitating pain conditions known to exist, called complex regional pain syndrome.

1 Aug 2018

Study shows spillover effect of evidence-based opioid prescribing for major procedures

To curb the use of opioids after major elective operations and prevent these pain relievers from falling into the wrong hands, surgeons at the University of Michigan developed prescribing recommendations based on published medical evidence for one operation, gall bladder removal, and then discovered a spillover effect that led them to prescribe roughly 10,000 fewer pills for other major operations, according to study results appearing as an "article in press" on the website of the Journal of the American College of Surgeons ahead of print.

27 Jul 2018

New approach paves way for electrochemical synthesis of opium alkaloids

Researchers at Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz have mastered a nearly 50-year-old challenge of electrosynthetic chemistry, namely the electrochemical synthesis of thebaine.

30 Jun 2018

$Chronic use of opioids related to increased risk of fracture nonunion$

Chronic use of opioids related to increased risk of fracture nonunion

Dr. Robert Zura, Professor and Chair of Orthopaedic Surgery at LSU Health New Orleans School of Medicine, was part of a research team reporting that not only may opioid use increase the risk of bone fractures, but opioids may also impair healing.

18 Jun 2018