News

COVID-19 Presents Challenges for the Opioid Epidemic

Over a year ago the COVID-19 global pandemic began, and even as progress is made around vaccines, there is still an ongoing crisis: The Opioid Epidemic. According to Michael Barnett,… read more

60 Minutes or Longer to Receive Life-Saving Medication?

Imagine what it would be like to spend an hour or more every day to receive a life-saving medication. When COVID-19 hit, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration… read more

Taking Action in the Opioid Epidemic While Battling the COVID-19 Pandemic

The American Medical Association has great concern about the growing number fatal opioid overdoses, caused by illicitly manufactured fentanyl and fentanyl analogs. We know the opioid epidemic is not behind… read more

FDA Joint Meeting of DSaRM & AADPAC

Today, Dr. Nabarun Dasgupta will give a guest presentation  on the Overview of Evaluating ADFs in the Community at the Joint Meeting of the Drug Safety and Risk Management Advisory Committee… read more

Prescribing and Dispensing ADF Opioids: A Survey of Physicians and Pharmacists

This poster (PDF: ADF Surveys Poster) was recently presented at the Academy Health Annual Research Meeting. Check out the link for detailed survey results and principal… read more

Upcoming Webinar: Addressing Racial Equity in Overdose Prevention

Webinar alert: Addressing Racial Equity in Overdose Prevention. Register here! This webinar, hosted by the Overdose Prevention Network, will take place on August 27, 2020 at 1:00pm ET to… read more

COVID-19, Opioid Overdoses, EMS Data

In the midst of a global pandemic, our lives have been shaken physically, financially and emotionally. People living with opioid use disorder may be at a higher risk of overdosing… read more

Opioid Overdoses: Drug, Set, Setting

This article (Circumstances of overdose among street-involved, opioid-injecting women: Drug, set, and setting) shares insight on patterns of opioid overdose among women. Zinberg's “drug, set, and setting”… read more

Opioid Prescribing Limits & Acute Pain

Opioid prescribing and acute pain is a popular topic, discussed in several disciplines. This article (Disappointing Early Results From Opioid Prescribing Limits for Acute Pain) shares early… read more

Collision Ahead: COVID-19 and Addiction

Harvard Health Publishing, an entity of Harvard Medical School wrote a blog titled: "A tale of two epidemics: When COVID-19 and opioid addiction collide." This post is written by… read more

U.S. Government Accountability Office Drug Use Summary Report

What is the U.S. Government Accountability Office? The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) is an independent, nonpartisan agency that works for Congress. Often called the "congressional watchdog," GAO examines how… read more

Unresponsive and Dying at Home: Effects of COVID-19

Dying at Home In Florida, medical examiner records show that the coronavirus has killed more than 1,600 people. Of these deaths, many people are dying at home. According to the… read more

American Medical Association & COVID-19 Policy Recommendations

Recently, the American Medical Associated provided policy recommendations to help guide policymakers reduce the stress being experienced by patients with an opioid use disorder (OUD) and pain during the COVID-19… read more

Rx Summit Discussion: COVID-19 and Substance Use Disorders

Fireside chat alert!  Last week, during the Rx Summit, Dr. Francis Collins and Dr. Nora Volkow had a discussion about opioids and COVID-19. Please view virtual plenary session on the… read more

Coronavirus Comix

Here at the Opioid Data Lab we partnered with the NC Urban Survivors Union to create a mini comix about the coronavirus and harm reduction. Check… read more

AJPH Article Discusses the Importance of Including People Who Use Drugs in order to Contextualize Research

People who use drugs + Research = Essential This post is written by Mary Figgatt, a first-year doctoral student in the Department of Epidemiology at UNC-Chapel Hill. We thank Mary… read more

Webinar Today: MOUD and the COVID-19 National Emergency Response

Webinar alert: MOUD and the COVID-19 National Emergency Response. Register here! This webinar will take place on today, March 19, 2020 at 3:00pm ET and discuss challenges in maintaining… read more

COVID-19, Safer Drug Use and Harm Reduction Operations

As our world is in the midst of the COVID-19 outbreak, commonly referred to as "Coronavirus," it is imperative that we provide helpful information for all populations. Most of the… read more

NY Times Article Medication Safety Issues

Our own Daniela Moga! While we worry about opioids a lot, polypharmacy is a general problem that makes existing illness worse. It’s emblematic of our healthcare system that relies very… read more

February Directed Acyclic Graph Discussion

On February 26, we had a project team meeting to discuss DAGs and casual pathways! Here are the links from our discussion.   Want to see our DAG? Use this… read more

Implementing Medications for Opioid Use Disorder in Jails and Prisons: Lessons from the Field

The National Council for Behavioral Health is holding a webinar on Tuesday, February 25 from 2-3:30pm ET to discuss the topic of "Medications for Opioid Use Disorder in Jails and… read more

Musculoskeletal Conditions and Opioid Pain Management

This article (Musculoskeletal Conditions and Opioid Pain Management) provides findings on musculoskeletal conditions and prescription analgesics among US adults. View the full paper, via the link, and read more… read more

Upcoming Webinar: Living with Chronic Pain, Perspectives from Persons with Lived Experience

Webinar alert: Living with Chronic Pain, Perspectives from Persons with Lived Experience. Register here! This listening session will take place on February 13, 2020 from 1:30 to 2:30pm ET… read more

Educational Opportunity – 2020 McGill Pharmacoepidemiology Summer Program

McGill University will have summer session course offerings in three levels of pharmacoepidemiology courses. Each session is taught by skilled pharmacoepidemiologists and talented instructors over a 4-day period. A brief… read more

Drug Environment and Economic Changes in the Epidemic

This paper (Opioids_EconomyModels) presents findings about how county-level economic conditions and drug environment changes affect the increase of drug morality rates. Check out the link for the full paper… read more

FDA Advisory Committee Meetings

There are 3 days of FDA Advisory Committee meetings next week, including discussion of an ADF on January 15th. In the Wednesday afternoon session, the committees will discuss NDA 209653,… read more

Social Connectedness and Opioids – What’s the relationship?

Here's a paper worth reading. This article (Opioids and SocialConnectedness) presents findings about the effect of opioids on human social connection. Check out the link for the full paper… read more

Incredible Data Viz: what happened in Philly with OxyContin reformulation?

If you haven't seen it yet, this data visualization from Nathaniel Lash and Aubrey Whelan at the Philadelphia Inquirer breaks down what happened to OxyContin 80mg sales… read more

December FDA visit

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Directed Acyclic Graph Exercise

On December 11, 2019, we will be conducting a DAG exercise. Use this link to get instructions on how to electronically recreate the paper exercise we are doing on… read more

ADF Dispensing in CA, FL, KY

This poster (PDF: ADFOpioids_CAFLKY_2018) was recently presented at an UK internal meeting using prescription monitoring program data from 3 states. Check out the link for product-specific rates and self-pay… read more