A new study identifies specific locations where medication and harm reduction services for people with opioid use disorder should be available in order to have the greatest impact on reducing opioid overdose deaths. Led by researchers at Boston Medical Center’s Grayken Center for Addiction, the data show that more than…
Co-prescribing naloxone in Medicare Part D increases
The practice of co-prescribing the opioid overdose reversal drug naloxone to Medicare Part D patients who take opioids for chronic pain increased between 2016 and 2017, though such co-prescriptions were provided to only a small minority of patients who might benefit, according to research led by scientists at the National…
Too Few People Who Survive Opioid Overdose Get Medication-Assisted Treatment
A new study concludes too few people who survive an opioid overdose receive medication-assisted treatment that will reduce the chance of another overdose. The study included more than 17,500 adults who survived an opioid overdose and found only about one-third received either buprenorphine (Suboxone), methadone or naltrexone (Vivitrol), HealthDay reports. Among people…
Methadone and buprenorphine reduce risk of death after opioid overdose
A National Institutes of Health-funded study found that treatment of opioid use disorder with either methadone or buprenorphine following a nonfatal opioid overdose is associated with significant reductions in opioid related mortality. The research, published today in the Annals of Internal Medicine, was co-funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse…
FDA approves first medication to reduce opioid withdrawal symptoms
The National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), part of the National Institutes of Health, is pleased to announce that lofexidine, the first medication for use in reducing symptoms associated with opioid withdrawal in adults, has been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Lofexidine, an oral tablet, is designed…