NIDA pushes for translational solutions to opioid crisis

One outcome of the flood of attention to the opioid crisis is that it is starting to sway the perception of addiction towards the concept it is a disease, suffered by patients, rather than a behavior, exhibited by individuals who make choices. NIH’s NIDA sees that as extra motivation to push translational science, and has set a goal to discover 15 new drug targets over a year.

The National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) is launching the Step Up for Substance Use Disorders initiative, the latest of a series of mechanisms it has applied to translate addiction research...