NIH launches $270 million anti-overdose research program for, and led by, Native Americans
Fatal drug overdoses shot up during the peak of Covid-19 in 2020. And as the…
Category: opioids
FDA approves Purdue Pharma’s controversial new overdose-reversal medication
Purdue Pharma, the company best known for fueling the opioid crisis by misleadingly marketing the…
Biden administration should push for addiction medication in recovery houses, groups say
The Biden administration isn’t doing enough to ensure people living in recovery housing have access…
Substance use stayed at high levels in 2023, while vaping increased and smoking fell
Rates of mental illness and substance use remained largely stable in 2023, according to federal…
Opinion: NIDA should beware of funding companies that violate people’s privacy
In a ground-breaking settlement with the Federal Trade Commission, two online addiction and mental health…
Opinion: Readers respond to essays on philanthropy and nursing schools, opioid overdoses, and more
First Opinion is STAT’s platform for interesting, illuminating, and maybe even provocative articles about the…
JD Vance’s rhetoric, and record, on the opioid epidemic
JD Vance says he’s grown all too accustomed to hearing a certain phrase when his…
Opinion: Addressing the dual epidemics of hepatitis C and opioid use
Hepatitis C and opioid use disorder are both chronic but treatable conditions. Yet many Americans…
Opinion: Letters from readers on schools and bird flu, opioid ‘overprescribing,’ and more
“Preparing schools for the H5N1 bird flu they’re likely to face,” by Mario Ramirez Having…
Opinion: Doctors ‘overprescribing’ opioids isn’t the cause of the overdose epidemic — and it never was
A key part of the federal government’s narrative about the epidemic of addiction and overdose…
.jpg)
Opinion: Everyone deserves addiction treatment that works — including those in jail
The overdose crisis is claiming lives across the United States, but it reaches new depths…
Upending Purdue Pharma’s settlement does little to help today’s opioid crisis, advocates say
The drug policy world has been left torn by the Supreme Court’s ruling on Thursday…
Biden and Trump spar over Medicare and abortion in a presidential debate filled with mistakes and falsehoods
WASHINGTON — For the most part, substantive debates on health policy between President Biden and…
Ambitious federal study failed to curb opioid deaths, NIH announces
In 2019, amid an ever-worsening drug crisis, the federal government launched a research study with…
Drug treatment that insists on abstinence? Federal agencies are just saying no
For as long as the federal government has worked to support substance use treatment, it…
At Las Vegas conference, methadone clinics blast idea of doctors prescribing directly
LAS VEGAS — Mark Parrino, the longtime leader of the U.S. methadone clinic industry, kicked…
Amid backlash to harm reduction, addiction experts warn against reprising ‘war on drugs’
SAN FRANCISCO — Amid what feels like an ever-worsening drug crisis here, locals and politicians…
Drug overdose deaths fell for first time in five years, though still exceeded 100,000
U.S. drug deaths decreased slightly in 2023, according to new data, the first decrease in…
Watch: Restaurant workers can serve your food, bring your drinks, and maybe save your life
BOSTON — The tables set up near the entrance of the Big Night Live concert venue…
STAT+: Endo Health ordered to pay more than $1.5 billion in opioid criminal case
In the second-largest fine ever levied on a pharmaceutical company, Endo Health Solutions was ordered…
Expanded methadone access: giving patients greater choice
WASHINGTON — Nicholas Voyles, executive director of the Indiana Recovery Alliance, ended up missing his…
Federal judge rules against Philadelphia supervised drug consumption effort
A federal judge this week dealt a major and likely decisive blow to Safehouse, a…
STAT+: DNA test that predicts opioid addiction should be pulled off the market, critics urge the FDA
In the next 24 hours, more than 130 people will die from opioid-related drug overdoses….
How expanded methadone access helped Switzerland defuse its drug crisis
ZURICH — The lobby of this addiction clinic is unremarkable, really, except for the network…
Opinion: Methadone treatment has been reformed for the better. States shouldn’t go back to the old ways
Since the Food and Drug Administration approved methadone for treating opioid use disorder in 1972,…
Top U.S. addiction researcher calls GLP-1 data for addiction ‘very, very exciting’
Early data regarding the use of GLP-1 medications like Ozempic and Wegovy to treat addiction…
STAT+: Ibogaine, the psychedelic, unlikely to receive approval as opioid treatment, says top addiction researcher
The psychedelic ibogaine is unlikely to ever receive approval as a treatment for opioid addiction,…
Overdose deaths hit another record but show signs of leveling off
The U.S. recorded 107,941 drug overdose deaths in 2022, according to a new federal report…
STAT+: Q&A: Mark Parrino says it’s time to ‘completely re-examine’ methadone treatment for opioid addiction
Nobody has made more of an impact on methadone treatment than Mark Parrino. For decades,…
STAT+: The methadone clinic monopoly: Opioid treatment chains backed by private equity are fighting calls for reform
Private equity firms have acquired stakes in nearly one-third of all methadone clinics in recent…
When did Wall Street sour on Lilly’s Alzheimer’s drug?
Want to stay on top of the science and politics driving biotech today? Sign up to get…
Rigid rules at methadone clinics are jeopardizing patients’ path to recovery from opioid addiction
DETROIT — Every morning, Rebecca Smith, nursing a surgically repaired knee, carefully walks down the…
STAT+: New methadone rules are about to take effect. Here are 6 ways treatment could shift
The federal government is reforming methadone care for the first time in over two decades….
How the U.S. is sabotaging its best tools to prevent deaths in the opioid epidemic
The opioid overdose epidemic has burned through the U.S. for nearly 30 years. Yet for…
Watch: Why fentanyl withdrawal is agony and how medication can prevent it
Over 2 million Americans have opioid use disorder, according to some estimates. Illicit opioids such…
STAT+: Q&A: Nora Volkow on how to get ‘at least 50% less people dying’ from opioid overdose
In 2003, the year Nora Volkow was appointed director of the National Institute on Drug…
STAT+: Opioid cravings were reduced by anti-obesity drug in small study
DENVER — The GLP-1 medication liraglutide significantly reduced opioid cravings in a small analysis presented on…
More people die after smoking drugs than injecting them, study finds
NEW YORK — Smoking has surpassed injecting as the most common way of taking drugs…
Replicate’s srRNA rabies vaccine effective in Phase 1
Want to stay on top of the science and politics driving biotech today? Sign up to get…
STAT+: Biotech launches with $135 million for Vertex-competing pain medicine
After three years being incubated by California VC Westlake Village BioPartners, a new biotech launched…
Higher naloxone doses have no impact on overdose survival, study shows
People receiving a double dose of naloxone are no more likely to survive an opioid…
STAT+: Years into an addiction crisis, a med school lecture still minimized opioid risks
Amid ongoing concern over opioid addiction, a university in Florida has been criticized for allowing…
What makes a drug a blockbuster — or a cautionary tale?
Want to stay on top of the science and politics driving biotech today? Sign up to get…
Methadone treatment gets first major update in over 20 years
The federal government is unveiling new regulations meant to modernize methadone treatment, the first major…
Pfizer’s reset year starts with a little profit
Want to stay on top of the science and politics driving biotech today? Sign up to get…
Opinion: What STAT readers think about JPM’s locked lactation room, covering weight loss drugs, and more
STAT now publishes selected Letters to the Editor received in response to First Opinion essays…
Why did Allogene cancel two clinical trials for its off-the-shelf cell therapy?
Want to stay on top of the science and politics driving biotech today? Sign up to get…
STAT+: FDA is blasted by advocates for pursuing a deal with data provider that has ties to opioid makers
Several advocacy groups are blasting a Food and Drug Administration proposal to work with a…
How opioid overdoses in public restrooms led an electrician to invent ‘safe bathrooms’
First, a light starts to flash. Then a high-pitched siren starts to blare. Then come…
Fights over methadone, harm reduction, and more: 3 addiction stories to watch in 2024
The U.S. drug crisis is as bad as it’s ever been, and there are few…