External link, please review our disclaimer.

Opioids

Potential Pain Medication Targets Peripheral Nerves

Researchers report a significant advance in the search for medications that can suppress pain that currently requires opioids, but avoid opioids’ abuse potential and other undesirable CNS effects. A new compound reduces mouse responses in animal models of neurogenic and chronic inflammatory (e.g., arthritic) pain. The compound, called UB937, enhances the natural pain-killing activity of the neurotransmitter anandamide, and exerts its analgesic effects entirely in peripheral tissues, without entering the brain.

Tags:

Animal Research Advances Effort to Develop Vaccines Against Cocaine, Heroin Abuse

New vaccines aim to promote recovery from cocaine and heroin abuse showed promise in animal testing. Both vaccines induced rats’ immune system to produce high titers of antibodies that inhibit the target drug from reaching the brain. The rats’ behaviors when given access to the target drug indicated that the vaccines reduced the reinforcing effects that, in recovering people, can cause lapses to turn into relapses.

Tags:

More Convenient Preparations of Buprenorphine Pass Test

Soluble-film preparations of buprenorphine suppressed heroin abusers’ withdrawal symptoms with no serious side effects in a recent clinical trial. They dissolved more rapidly in the mouth than the pill form of the medication, providing faster relief.

Tags:

Buprenorphine During Pregnancy Reduces Neonate Distress

Sublingual buprenorphine is a safe and effective alternative to methadone for treating opioid dependence during pregnancy, finds the Maternal Opioid Treatment: Human Experimental Research (MOTHER) study, a NIDA-supported clinical trial. Women who received either medication had similar pregnancy and birth outcomes, but infants born to women who received buprenorphine had milder symptoms of neonatal opioid withdrawal.

Tags:

NIH selects 11 Centers of Excellence in Pain Education

Featured on Latest Science:

Not featured

The National Institutes of Health Pain Consortium has selected 11 health professional schools as designated Centers of Excellence in Pain Education (CoEPEs). The CoEPEs will act as hubs for the development, evaluation, and distribution of pain management curriculum resources for medical, dental, nursing and pharmacy schools to enhance and improve how health care professionals are taught about pain and its treatment. Twenty institutes, centers and offices at NIH are involved in the consortium.

Tags:

Well-Known Mechanism Underlies Benzodiazepines' Addictive Properties

New research establishes that benzodiazepines cause addiction in a way similar to that of opioids, cannabinoids, and the club drug GHB. The discovery opens the door to designing new benzodiazepines that counteract anxiety but are not addictive.

Tags:

Medication-Assisted Treatment for Opioid Addiction (Topics in Brief)

April 2012

PDF Version:

tib_mat_opioid.pdf

Content Image with Lightbox:

Increase in Unintentional Overdose Deaths Involving Opioid Analgesics, 1999-2008

Methadone Treatment Pre-and Post-Release Increases Treatment Retention & Reduces Drug Use

Opioids act on specific receptors in the brain and the body, which also interact with naturally produced substances known as endorphins or enkephalins – important in regulating pain. While prescription pain relievers can be highly beneficial if used as prescribed, opioids as a general class of drugs have a high potential for abuse.

Tags:

Study provides clues for designing new anti-addiction medications

Featured on Latest Science:

Not featured

Scientists are now one step closer to developing anti-addiction medications, thanks to new research that provides a better understanding of the properties of the only member of the opioid receptor family whose activation counteracts the rewarding effects of addictive drugs.

Tags:

NIDA creates easy-to-read website on drug abuse

Featured on Latest Science:

Not featured

A new, easy-to-read website on drug abuse designed for adults with a low reading literacy level (eighth grade or below) was launched today by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), part of the National Institutes of Health. The site, which provides plain language information on neuroscience, drug abuse prevention and treatment, is also a resource for adult literacy educators. It has a simple design with a large default text size, motion graphic videos and other features that make it easy to read and use.

Prescription Drugs: Abuse and Addiction (Research Reports)

Examines the non-medical use of prescription drugs-opioids, central nervous system depressants, and stimulants-describing adverse health effects of their use and the prevention and treatment of addiction.

Tags:

Featured Publication

Drugs, Brains, and Behavior - The Science of Addiction

As a result of scientific research, we know that addiction is a disease that affects both brain and behavior.