Researchers at Oregon Health & Science University and Stanford University awarded grant to continue supporting the infrastructure of the Western States Node of the National Drug Abuse Treatment Clinical Trials Network

We are pleased to announce that Stanford Psychiatry’s Keith Humphreys, the Esther Ting Memorial Professor and Professor, by courtesy, of Health Policy, joins co-principal investigator Dr. Philip Korthius at Oregon Health & Science University for a renewal of this years-long collaborative project, funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse, focused on filling gaps in addiction care.

Progressively fewer people who use drugs remain in care after each step in the addiction care cascade, resulting in high morbidity and mortality. For this renewal period, the research team - which provides the infrastructure for the Western States Node of the National Drug Abuse Treatment Clinical Trials Network (CTN) - will focus on two research themes, seeking to:

1. close addiction care cascade gaps through treatment trials
2. integrate community-based peers into CTN trials that extend beyond traditional addiction treatment systems
   
   

In doing so, they hope to reclaim approximately 225,000 years of healthy life lost each year to drug use in the U.S., and address NIDA’s Strategic Plan priorities to: a) develop and test novel treatment, harm reduction, and recovery support strategies, and b) study the implementation of evidence-based strategies in real-world settings.

• Six systems partner with the Western States Node (WSN) of the National Drug Abuse Treatment Clinical Trials Network for this work:
• Palo Alto VA and the national Veterans Healthcare Administration
• OHSU Health
• Stanford Hospital and Clinics
• Four community-based Opioid Treatment Programs serving rural and urban communities
• Low-barrier telehealth substance use treatment programs
• The PRIME+ network of 14 community-based peer organizations that provide outreach and harm reduction services to non-treatment- seeking people who use drugs in rural and urban communities
   

“The Western States Node is a collaboration across leading universities and health care organizations which develops and tests strategies that close gaps in the addiction treatment cascade,” says the research team. “An exemplar trial tests slow-release oral morphine induction versus standard buprenorphine induction in 350 people who use fentanyl, to improve treatment engagement and retention. The trial, like the Node as a whole, also incorporates peers (individuals with lived experience in recovery) as advisors, research assistants, and supporters of high-quality care.”

Dr. Humphreys is the chairman of the Stanford-Lancet Commission on the North American Opioid Crisis. He researches individual and societal level interventions for addictive and psychiatric disorders. He focuses particularly on evaluating the outcomes of professionally-administered treatments and peer-operated self-help groups, and, analyzing the impact of public policies touching addiction, mental health, public health, and public safety. Recent publications related to this work include “Therapeutic potential of psychedelic drugs: navigating high hopes, strong claims, weak evidence, and big money,” published in the Annual Review of Psychology, and “Does the advent of depot therapy represent a step change in our understanding of opioid use disorder and its treatment?” published in the journal Drug and Alcohol Review.
 

More Information

For more details about this new grant, visit NIH RePORTER.