Drug related deaths due to heroin and opioids are on the rise. It’s becoming an epidemic. Why is this? What are the factors contributing to this crisis of life and death? Why is this crisis reflective of a deep spiritual disorder that demands that parishes and their members get engaged based on their resources and capacity? Join Michael as he attempts to address these questions and shares information from his Metropolis that can be useful to many.

A special episode of Healthy Minds Healthy Souls Radio Show entitled "The Opioid Crisis: What You Need to Know" with guests Fr. Anthony Salzman, Chris Thrasher, and Rev. Dr. Von Wrighten. Join us for a practical and in-depth discussion on the growing opioid crisis.

Washington — The opioid epidemic has had a wide-ranging impact on U.S. workers, but employers who support recovery can help, a new policy report states.

Allan didn't know it was fentanyl…

Attorney General Kathy Jennings announced today a $150 million multistate settlement in principle with opioid manufacturer Hikma Pharmaceuticals (Hikma) for its role in fueling the opioid crisis. Hikma produces a range of generic opioid products and sells hundreds of millions of opioid doses every year. The attorneys general allege that from 2006 to 2021, Hikma […]

Delaware Attorney General Kathy Jennings today announced a multistate settlement in principle with opioid manufacturer Amneal Pharmaceuticals (Amneal) for its role in fueling the nationwide epidemic of opioid addictions and overdoses. Amneal produces several generic opioid products and was one of the largest manufacturers of opioids from 2006 to 2019, selling nearly nine billion pills. […]

Delaware Attorney General Kathy Jennings, alongside a bipartisan coalition of thirty state attorneys general, announced today the completion of the $1.37 billion settlement agreement with Kroger, addressing the grocery chain’s role in the opioid crisis. Delaware will receive over $2.7 million for opioid abatement, all of which will be overseen by the Prescription Opioids Settlement Distribution Commission. Payments are […]

Title: 3 Big Pharmacy Chains Must Pay $650 Million to Ohio Counties for Role in Opioid Crisis
Category: Health News
Created: 8/18/2022 12:00:00 AM
Last Editorial Review: 8/18/2022 12:00:00 AM

Tech startups are stepping up to meet the needs of 60 million people worldwide who use opioids, representing about 1 percent of the world’s adult population. In the United States, deaths involving synthetic opioids have risen 1,040 percent from 2013 to 2019. The COVID-19 pandemic and continued prevalence of fentanyl have since worsened the toll, with an estimated 81,083 fatal overdoses in 2023 alone.

Innovations include biometric monitoring systems that help doctors determine proper medication dosages, nerve stimulators that relieve withdrawal symptoms, wearable and ingestible systems that watch for signs of an overdose, and autonomous drug delivery systems that could prevent overdose deaths.

Helping Patients Get the Dosage They Need

For decades, opioid blockers and other medications that suppress cravings have been the primary treatment tool for opioid addiction. However, despite its clinical dominance, this approach remains underutilized. In the United States, only about 22 percent of the 2.5 million adults with opioid use disorder receive medication-assisted therapy such as methadone, Suboxone, and similar drugs.

Determining patients’ ideal dosage during the early stages of treatment is crucial for keeping them in recovery programs. The shift from heroin to potent synthetic opioids, like fentanyl, has complicated this process, as the typical recommended medication doses can be too low for those with a high fentanyl tolerance.

A North Carolina-based startup is developing a predictive algorithm to help clinicians tailor these protocols and track real-time progress with biometric data. OpiAID, which is currently working with 1,000 patients across three clinical sites, recently launched a research pilot with virtual treatment provider Bicycle Health. Patients taking Suboxone will wear a Samsung Galaxy Watch6 to measure their heart rate, body movements, and skin temperature. OpiAID CEO David Reeser says clinicians can derive unique stress indications from this data, particularly during withdrawal. (He declined to share specifics on how the algorithm works.)

“Identifying stress biometrically plays a role in how resilient someone will be,” Reeser adds. “For instance, poor heart rate variability during sleep could indicate that a patient may be more susceptible that day. In the presence of measurable amounts of withdrawal, the potential for relapse on illicit medications may be more likely.”

Nerve Stimulators Provide Opioid Withdrawal Relief

While OpiAID’s software solution relies on monitoring patients, electrical nerve stimulation devices take direct action. These behind-the-ear wearables distribute electrodes at nerve endings around the ear and send electrical pulses to block pain signals and relieve withdrawal symptoms like anxiety and nausea.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has cleared several nerve stimulator devices, such as DyAnsys’ Drug Relief, which periodically administers low-level electrical pulses to the ear’s cranial nerves. Others include Spark Biomedical’s Sparrow system and NET Recovery’s NETNeuro device.

Masimo’s behind-the-ear Bridge device costs US $595 for treatment providers.Masimo

Similarly, Masimo’s Bridge relieves withdrawal symptoms by stimulating the brain and spinal cord via electrodes. The device is intended to help patients initiating, transitioning into, or tapering off medication-assisted treatment. In a clinical trial, Bridge reduced symptom severity by 85 percent in the first hour and 97 percent by the fifth day. A Masimo spokesperson said the company’s typical customers are treatment providers and correctional facilities, though it’s also seeing interest from emergency room physicians.

Devices Monitor Blood Oxygen to Prevent Overdose Deaths

In 2023, the FDA cleared Masimo’s Opioid Halo device to monitor blood oxygen levels and alert emergency contacts if it detects opioid-induced respiratory depression, the leading cause of overdose deaths. The product includes a pulse oximeter cable and disposable sensors connected to a mobile app.

Opioid Halo utilizes Masimo’s signal extraction technology, first developed in the 1990s, which improves upon conventional oxygen monitoring techniques by filtering out artifacts caused by blood movement. Masimo employs four signal-processing engines to distinguish the true signal from noise that can lead to false alarms; for example, they distinguish between arterial blood and low-oxygen venous blood.

Masimo’s Opioid Halo system is available over-the-counter without a prescription. Masimo

Opioid Halo is available over-the-counter for US $250. A spokesperson says sales have continued to show promise as more healthcare providers recommend it to high-risk patients.

An Ingestible Sensor to Watch Over Patients

Last year, in a first-in-human clinical study, doctors used an ingestible sensor to monitor vital signs from patients’ stomachs. Researchers analyzed the breathing patterns and heart rates of 10 sleep study patients at West Virginia University. Some participants had episodes of central sleep apnea, which can be a proxy for opioid-induced respiratory depression. The capsule transmitted this data wirelessly to external equipment linked to the cloud.

Celero’s Rescue-Rx capsule would reside in a user’s stomach for one week.Benjamin Pless/Celero Systems

“To our knowledge, this is the first time anyone has demonstrated the ability to accurately monitor human cardiac and respiratory signals from an ingestible device,” says Benjamin Pless, one of the study’s co-authors. “This was done using very low-power circuitry including a radio, microprocessor, and accelerometer along with software for distinguishing various physiological signals.”

Pless and colleagues from MIT and Harvard Medical School started Celero Systems to commercialize a modified version of that capsule, one that will also release an opioid antagonist after detecting respiratory depression. Pless, Celero’s CEO, says the team has successfully demonstrated the delivery of nalmefene, an opioid antagonist similar to Narcan, to rapidly reverse overdoses.

Celero’s next step is integrating the vitals-monitoring feature for human trials. The company’s final device, Rescue-Rx, is intended to stay in the stomach for one week before passing naturally. Pless says Rescue-Rx’s ingestible format will make the therapy cheaper and more accessible than wearable autoinjectors or implants.

Celero’s capsule can detect vital signs from within the stomach. www.youtube.com

Autonomous Delivery of Overdose Medication

Rescue-Rx isn’t the only autonomous drug-delivery project under development. A recent IEEE Transactions on Biomedical Circuits and Systems paper introduced a wrist-worn near-infrared spectroscopy sensor to detect low blood oxygen levels related to an overdose.

Purdue University biomedical engineering professor Hugh Lee and graduate student Juan Mesa, who both co-authored the study, say that while additional human experiments are necessary, the findings represent a valuable tool in counteracting the epidemic. “Our wearable device consistently detected low-oxygenation events, triggered alarms, and activated the circuitry designed to release the antidote through the implantable capsule,” they wrote in an email.

Lee and Purdue colleagues founded Rescue Biomedical to commercialize the A2D2 system, which includes a wristband and an implanted naloxone capsule that releases the drug if oxygen levels drop below 90 percent. Next, the team will evaluate the closed-loop system in mice.

This story was updated on 27 August 2024 to correct the name of Masimo’s Opioid Halo device.

Australia's island state is known for its rich history and pristine environment it also provides 50 per cent of the raw materials that go into the powerful painkillers at the centre of the United States' opioid crisis.

Complaint accuses family behind Purdue Pharma of consumer fraud, negligence, and nuisance  Attorney General Kathy Jennings Monday sued seven members of the Sackler family for their role in creating and sustaining the opioid crisis in Delaware. The individuals named in the Delaware Superior Court complaint controlled and directed opioid manufacturer Purdue Pharma’s two-decade course of falsely and deceptively marketing opioids, sowing the seeds […]

Title: Opioid Crisis Means More Newborns With Hepatitis C, But Few Get Tested
Category: Health News
Created: 5/2/2018 12:00:00 AM
Last Editorial Review: 5/2/2018 12:00:00 AM

Title: The Other Opioid Crisis: Shortages at U.S. Hospitals
Category: Health News
Created: 5/2/2018 12:00:00 AM
Last Editorial Review: 5/2/2018 12:00:00 AM

More than 2 million Americans suffer from opioid use disorder, but only about 25% of people receive any sort of care. For many, inpatient treatment often means leaving a job and loved ones behind to seek recovery.

In a 2018 article for Foreign Affairs, we detailed what set off the North American opioid crisis and what other nations can learn from mistakes the U.S. and Canada made. Here, we describe the opioid situation in other countries and then reflect on what U.S. and Canadian officials could learn from them. Key lessons include…

Introduction Recent high-profile litigation and settlements among states and local governments with drug companies have highlighted the costs of the opioid epidemic on communities. The dollar amounts discussed in some of these cases have been huge. For example, Purdue Pharma and Mallinckrodt agreed to a national settlements of about $10 billion and $1.6 billion, respectively,…

Governments should treat the opioid epidemic as a public health crisis and improve treatment, care and support for people misusing opioids. Overdose deaths continue to rise, fuelled by an increase in prescription and over-prescription of opioids for pain management and the illicit drugs trade, according to a new OECD report.

Governments should treat the opioid epidemic as a public health crisis and improve treatment, care and support for people misusing opioids. Overdose deaths continue to rise, fuelled by an increase in prescription and over-prescription of opioids for pain management and the illicit drugs trade, according to a new OECD report.

Online Resource

This literature review was conducted as part of an evaluation of the National Health Emergency demonstration grants awarded by the U.S. Department of Labor to states that using their workforce systems to address problems presented by the opioid crisis.

This guide supports state recipients of the U.S. Department of Labor National Health Emergency demonstration grants that leverage their workforce systems to address problems presented by the opioid crisis.

Dewey Library - HV8738.S835 2019