Journal Article

The NIDA clinical trials network: evolving, expanding, and addressing the opioid epidemic

Blackeney, Quandra, Dobbins, Ronald, Liu, David, Moran, Landhing, Tai, Betty

2021

Overview

Over the past two decades, the National Drug Abuse Treatment Clinical Trials Network (CTN), a program of the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), has expanded from the initial six Nodes to 16 Nodes, as a nationwide consortium of research scientists and treatment providers working together to improve care for substance use in the nation’s communities. Encompassing both specialty care programs and general medical settings, the Network has become a unique resource for expertise on clinically focused research, bridging the gap between research and treatment delivery. Over 22 years, the CTN has completed 101 studies, resulting in 650 publications. In response to the opioid epidemic, a CTN task force generated a comprehensive list of research priorities in the areas of prevention, treatment, knowledge dissemination, and workforce training, to form the basis of the Network’s opioid portfolio. The Network’s opioid portfolio currently includes five main categories of studies: (1) large multi-site studies; (2) studies aimed at closing the treatment gap; (3) expansion of ongoing studies to improve service delivery and implementation; (4) studies to explore the use of substance use data in electronic health record systems; (5) training and dissemination projects to expand the research/health care provider workforce. With funding from the Helping to End Addiction Long-Term Initiative SM (HEAL), the CTN established five new Nodes, which, along with the pre-existing Nodes, are distributed in every region of the nation and engage researchers and clinicians in areas that have been among the hardest hit by the opioid epidemic. Through this expanded network and its commitment to developing personalized, evidence-based treatments, the CTN is poised to address and provide solutions for the ongoing epidemic of opioid use and addiction.

• Publisher: BioMed Central,BioMed Central Ltd,Springer Nature B.V,BMC
• Subject: Addictions / Care and treatment / Clinical research / Clinical trials / Commentary / Dissemination / Drug abuse / Drug addiction / Drug use / Drugs / Emergency medical care / Epidemics / Evidence-based medicine / HEAL / Health care / Health care industry / Health Psychology / Health services / Implementation / Medical personnel / Medical records / Medicine / Medicine & Public Health / Narcotics / National Drug Abuse Treatment Clinical Trials Network / National Drug Abuse Treatment Clinical Trials Network and the Opioid Use Disorder Care Continuum: 20 Years of Research Informing Practice / Networks / Opioid use disorder / Opioids / Patients / Pharmacology/Toxicology / Portfolios / Primary care / Psychopharmacology / Public Health / Social Work / Substance abuse / Substance abuse treatment / Substance use disorder treatment / Task forces / Technical education / Training / Treatment methods / Workforce