While the opioid epidemic is one of the most urgent public health emergencies facing the U.S., new therapeutic approaches for treating the underlying substance use disorder have lagged far behind. | ...

Brain cells (magenta) in the reward center of a rat’s brain release dopamine in response to opioids. According to a new study by WashU Medicine researchers, male and female rats with a chronic pain ...

More good news in the battle against opioid addiction. Scientists have reopened research into a class of opioids that were ...

A novel mu-opioid receptor agonist showed strong analgesia without respiratory depression, tolerance, or significant ...

Researchers at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) have identified a novel, highly potent opioid that shows potential as ...

Is there a safe opioid? Scientists discovered DFNZ, a high-potency nitazene that relieves pain without the risk of overdose ...

A series of recent studies in mice and rats has mapped specific brain circuits that appear to drive chronic pain, identifying ...

While opioids are incredibly powerful pain management tools, they can also be highly addictive. Since 2013, the rate of deaths from an overdose due to synthetic opioids, like fentanyl, has steadily ...

Using a long-abandoned class of opioids as their starting point, scientists have discovered an opioid painkiller that doesn't ...