Active clinical trials for "Opioid-Related Disorders"

The overarching hypotheses of this protocol are that (1) persistent brain glutamate changes induced by chronic opioid use will exacerbate use of cocaine during opioid physical dependence and withdrawal and (2) n-acetylcysteine (NAC) will ameliorate glutamatergic dysregulation, and thus will reduce both opioid and cocaine demand. These hypotheses will be tested with two specific aims. Specific Aim 1. Determine the reinforcing effects of cocaine in individuals with comorbid opioid and cocaine use disorder with physiological dependence on opioids during NAC maintenance. All subjects will be maintained on oral hydromorphone. They will also be randomly assigned to receive placebo or oral NAC (2.4 g/day), stratified by sex. After dose stabilization, experimental sessions will be conducted in which subjects complete hypothetical cocaine purchase tasks during opioid maintenance and opioid withdrawal. The hypotheses are: 1) cocaine purchasing will be greater during opioid withdrawal and 2) NAC maintenance will attenuate cocaine purchasing across opioid maintenance and withdrawal periods. Specific Aim 2. Evaluate glutamate functionality during periods of opioid maintenance and withdrawal in individuals with comorbid opioid and cocaine use disorder and physiological dependence on opioids during NAC maintenance. Subjects will undergo magnetic resonance spectroscopy to evaluate brain glutamate changes as a function of opioid maintenance/withdrawal state and NAC maintenance. The hypotheses are: 1) glutamate levels will be elevated during opioid withdrawal and 2) NAC maintenance will ameliorate elevated glutamate levels.

Buprenorphine is an evidence-based treatment for opioid use disorder that also has strong potential to reduce HIV transmission in people who use drugs. Rural health care professionals are eligible and critically needed to provide these medications, but stigma currently limits provider willingness to prescribe buprenorphine, especially in regions where mortality and HIV transmission secondary to opioid use are high. In this developmental trial, the investigators will adapt, refine, and test the feasibility of a prototype brief stigma-reduction training intervention aimed at increasing buprenorphine prescribing in the rural primary care setting.

Central Asia (CA) represents the most rapidly growing HIV epidemic region worldwide, concentrated in people who inject drugs (PWID) and their sexual partners, and scaling up opioid agonist therapies (OAT) in this region is the most cost-effective strategy to prevent new HIV infections, and more effective when combined with antiretroviral therapy (ART). The investigators propose to use the Network for the Improvement of Addiction Treatment (NIATx) implementation strategy to scale-up OAT in three diverse Central Asian countries (Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan) and guided by the Exploration-Planning-Implementation-Sustainment (EPIS) framework. Understanding the trajectories of implementation and scale-up in this context may emerge through creating communities of practice, especially when cohesion and competence evolves, and may guide other healthcare delivery challenges in the region (e.g., HIV, TB); as well as build important regional expertise and understanding implementation trajectories should help support OAT program sustainability.

The COVID-19 pandemic puts individuals recovering from opioid use disorders (OUDs), an already vulnerable population, at increased risk of overdose due to decreased access to treatment, decreased social support, and increased psychosocial stress. This proposal will test the efficacy of a promising mobile app-based peer support program, compared to usual care, in increasing recovery capital, improving retention in treatment, and reducing psychosocial adverse effects, among a national sample of people in recovery from OUD. If effective, it would provide an accessible, personalized, and scalable approach to OUD recovery increasingly needed during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Evaluate the feasibility of implementing workplace opioid guidelines in the construction trades; define and collect measures of implementation and efficacy. The investigators will implement the intervention in three local union health funds, evaluate the implementation using the Reach, Effectiveness, Adoption, Implementation, Maintenance (RE-AIM) framework, and collect the data needed to measure the efficacy of health changes due to implementation of the intervention (workplace opioid guidelines). This is only a feasibility trial in preparation for conducting an randomized control trial. For the efficacy trial, the investigators will measure pre-post health change using two data sources: 1) administrative health claims and electronic member work hours, and 2) worker/member surveys. To monitor implementation of the intervention, the investigators will measure changes made to the health funds opioid prevention program through qualitative interviews with the health fund manager and through worker surveys for worker awareness and use of the health fund program changes pre-post implementation. The efficacy outcomes for the administrative health (and pharmacy) claims and work hours record will measure opioid prescriptions, chronic opioid use, and OUD in health claims and pharmacy data (details below). The efficacy outcomes for the worker surveys will record changes in misuse of opioids, change in missed days/work productivity, change in attitudes toward seeking help if worker was struggling with opioid misuse, and awareness and use of health fund programs (i.e. employee assistance programs, healthcare recovery services). the investigators will collect data at baseline and and after 6 months for the study of implementation and efficacy (a pre/post design, one-arm trial).

A major barrier for the uptake of evidence-based interventions to address the ongoing opioid epidemic in the US, especially in rural regions, is stigma, which occurs at many levels, including that of the patient and provider. A shared decision making aid is an evidence-based method for increasing engagement and knowledge of both patients and providers, potentially democratizing treatment decisions, especially in stigmatized conditions. The investigators propose to adapt and pilot a decision aid for OUD treatment and harm reduction in two hospitals in rural Missouri to evaluate whether this reduces stigma in both patients and providers.

The purpose of this study is to collect information about opioid craving so that the investigators can develop an opioid craving assessment to improve treatments for individuals with opioid use disorder. To collect this information, the investigators are recruiting individuals in treatment for opioid use disorder who will complete cue-induced opioid craving tasks where these individuals will: (1) look at pictures of neutral objects and touch neutral objects (e.g., water bottles or flashlights), (2) look at opioid-related images, and (3) look and touch opioid-related objects. Participants will then complete a one-on-one interview about the thoughts, feelings and physical sensations the participants experienced during the cue-induced craving session. Participants will also complete questionnaires and existing opioid craving assessments. Finally, participants will provide formal feedback about existing opioid craving assessments with cognitive interviews.

Evaluate individual differences in the expression of opioid withdrawal symptoms in persons with opioid use disorder (OUD) while completing a clinically-indicated medication taper.

Opioid agonist treatments are the gold standard for treating opioid use disorder (OUD). Yet, even effective treatments average only 50% six-month retention. Despite extensive research into treatment options, it remains important to improve understanding of factors that contribute to relapse and identify interventions to mitigate these risks. Stress-exposure is problematic for people trying to recover from substance use disorders (SUDs) because it weakens inhibition of automatic behaviors and increases drug craving and likelihood of relapse. However, paths through which stress affects behavior are incompletely understood and current SUD treatments do not target effects of stress on drug use. This project will explore whether repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) might improve treatment outcomes for people with OUD entering methadone treatment. The investigators will examine the impact of rTMS treatment over one of two theoretically-driven neural targets on substance use and cognitive outcomes associated with treatment success (executive function and emotional arousal).

The goal of this clinical trial is to demonstrate the commercial potential for a novel virtual reality (VR) intervention in preparation for Phase II development. This clinical trial will test the VR intervention for efficacy in reducing opioid use, increasing abstinence, and other self-reported and behavioral focus on future outcomes in individuals in early recovery from opioid use disorder. Will the VR group, compared to the control group, have a lower number of opioid use days? Will the VR group, compared to the control group, have longer periods of abstinence at the 30-day follow-up? Will the VR group, compared to the control group, have significantly increased opioid abstinence rates? Will the VR group, compared to baseline and the control group, show increased future self-identification post-VR intervention? Will the VR group, compared to baseline and the control group, show increased future orientation post-VR intervention? Will the VR group, compared to baseline and the control group, show an increased preference for delayed rewards in a laboratory delay discounting task post-VR intervention? Will the VR group, compared to baseline and the control group, exceed in behavioral effects (i.e., future self-identification, future orientation, and increased preference for delayed rewards) at the 30-day follow-up? Researchers will compare the VR test group and the control group to see if there are differences in the results for the questions outlined above.