Recent Advances in the Treatment of Opioid Use Disorder.

Sumanth Kuppalli,Adam M Kaye,Raghav Seth,Ivan Urits,Mark R Jones,Peju Adekoya,Vwaire Orhurhu,Amitabh Gulati,Corey Hunter,Alan D Kaye

doi:10.1007/s11916-021-00941-8

Abstract

Opioid use disorder (OUD) remains a national epidemic with an immense consequence to the United States' healthcare system. Current therapeutic options are limited by adverse effects and limited efficacy. Recent advances in therapeutic options for OUD have shown promise in the fight against this ongoing health crisis. Modifications to approved medication-assisted treatment (MAT) include office-based methadone maintenance, implantable and monthly injectable buprenorphine, and an extended-release injectable naltrexone. Therapies under investigation include various strategies such as heroin vaccines, gene-targeted therapy, and biased agonism at the G protein-coupled receptor (GPCR), but several pharmacologic, clinical, and practical barriers limit these treatments' market viability. This manuscript provides a comprehensive review of the current literature regarding recent innovations in OUD treatment.

Highlights

Opioids are an essential component of the management of perioperative pain and cancer-related pain
Opioids act on opioid receptors that are located along the nociceptive pathway, found on multiple presynaptic and postsynaptic nerve terminals [1]
The opioid epidemic has developed into a major public health crisis related to the abuse of prescription opioids, rise in heroin use, and increased availability of high-potency synthetic opioids

Summary

Introduction

Opioids are an essential component of the management of perioperative pain and cancer-related pain. They are the oldest and most efficacious group of drugs for managing severe pain. Opioid agonist therapy (OAT) with methadone or buprenorphine remains the gold standard for the treatment of opioid use disorder (OUD) [4]. OAT has undesirable effects including abuse liability, respiratory depression, cardiac arrhythmias, immunosuppression, and hyperalgesia. It requires patient participation in a maintenance program with no universal agreement on the length of therapy, with approximately 40–60% of. This article is part of the Topical Collection on Alternative Treatments for Pain Medicine

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Conclusion

Findings

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