NIH seeks public-private partnerships to fight opioid crisis

In an article published in the New England Journal of Medicine and a blog post, NIH Director Francis Collins and National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) Director Nora Volkow outlined a plan to speed research in opioid overdose reversal, addiction treatment and pain management. The initiative will aim to establish public-private partnerships between NIH and pharmaceutical companies that could halve the time it takes to develop new treatments.

To address opioid overdose reversal, Collins and Volkow called for “new or differently formulated” mu opioid receptor (MOR; OPRM1) antagonists, which existing therapy naloxone targets. NIH plans to work with private partners to develop "stronger, longer-acting formulations of antagonists, including naloxone,” they wrote. The pair also suggested the serotonin (5-HT1A) receptor “may hold promise” as an alternative target for reversing overdose-induced respiratory depression...