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# NIH Pushes Opioid Abuse Research
- URL: https://www.fdaweb.com/nih-pushes-opioid-abuse-research/
- Published: 2017-06-01T12:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-09-14T22:26:53.000Z
- Author: David McFarland
- Tags: Drugs, #legacy-id-D5138835

National Institutes of Health (NIH) director **Francis Collins** says in an online agency blog [post](https://directorsblog.nih.gov/2017/05/31/all-scientific-hands-on-deck-to-end-the-opioid-crisis/?ref=fdaweb.com) that the scope of the nation’s opioid crisis is staggering but not hopeless, and NIH has a plan to accelerate research in three critical areas. He says there is a need for: 

- additional overdose-reversal interventions and improved formulations of naloxone to reduce mortality, as well as technologies that can detect an overdose and signal for help as well as intervene automatically to stimulate respiration;
- new, innovative medications and technologies to treat opioid addiction; and
- safe, effective, non-addictive treatments to manage chronic pain.

Collins says the NIH initiative will focus on objectives ranging from short-term goals such as reformulating existing medications to priorities that will take longer to bear fruit. He also says NIH will partner with the drug industry to cut in half the time it takes to develop new treatments.