USA. FDA takes new steps to encourage the development of novel medicines for the treatment of opioid use disorder The U.S. Food and Drug Administration today issued new scientific recommendations aimed at encouraging more widespread innovation and…

Pharmacological therapies for management of opium withdrawal. Rahimi-Movaghar A, Gholami J, Amato L, Hoseinie L, Yousefi-Nooraie R, Amin-Esmaeili M. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2018 Jun 21;6:CD007522. doi: 10.1002/14651858.CD007522.pub2. Review…

Snake Venom Use as a Substitute for Opioids: A Case Report and Review of Literature. Mehra A, Basu D, Grover S. Indian J Psychol Med. 2018 May-Jun;40(3):269-271. doi: 10.4103/IJPSYM.IJPSYM_216_17. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5968…

Continuous opioid substitution treatment over five years: Heroin use trajectories and outcomes. Eastwood B, Strang J, Marsden J. Drug Alcohol Depend. 2018 May 16;188:200-208. doi: 10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2018.03.052. Abstract https://www.ncbi.nlm.n…

Opioid substitution treatment and heroin dependent adolescents: reductions in heroin use and treatment retention over twelve months. Smyth BP, Elmusharaf K, Cullen W. BMC Pediatr. 2018 May 4;18(1):151. doi: 10.1186/s12887-018-1137-4. https://www…

USA. Lofexidine: FDA approves the first non-opioid treatment for management of opioid withdrawal symptoms in adults Encouraging more widespread innovation and development of safe and effective treatments for opioid use disorder remains top agency p…