NIH Director & NIDA Director Describe NIH Plans to Launch Effort with Private Partners to Combat Opioid Crisis

Opioid misuse and addiction is an ongoing and rapidly evolving public health crisis, requiring innovative scientific solutions. In a special report published online on May 31, 2017 in the New England Journal of Medicine, National Institutes of Health Director Francis S. Collins, MD, PhD, and National Institute on Drug Abuse Director Nora D. Volkow, MD, describe NIH's plans to launch an initiative with private partners to develop better overdose reversal and prevention interventions to reduce mortality; find new, innovative medications and technologies to treat opioid addiction; and find safe, effective, non-addictive strategies to manage chronic pain. The open-access NEJM special report is titled “The Role of Science in Addressing the Opioid Crisis.”