Funded Projects

NOFO Title: Development of Medications to Prevent and Treat Opioid Use Disorders and Overdose (UG3/UH3) (Clinical Trial Optional)
NOFO Number: PAR-20-092
Summary:

In collaboration with Eolas Therapeutics and the NIH Blueprint Neurotherapeutics Network, AstraZeneca has developed a novel compound for treatment of opioid use disorder, AZD4041, which targets orexin 1 (OX1) receptors in the brain. In animal studies, AZD4041 reduced the motivation to consume opioids or nicotine, reduced relapse-like drug-seeking behaviors, and showed a favorable safety profile. The compound also has proven to be safe in an initial Phase 1 clinical trial in healthy human volunteers. This project will further evaluate the safety (e.g., respiratory depression profile) of AZD4041 in human volunteers, using multiple and increasing doses. Upon successful completion of these studies, the compound will be tested in a proof-of-concept efficacy study in patients with opioid use disorder. If this is successful, the compound will advance to larger Phase 2 and Phase 3 pivotal clinical trial to tests its effectiveness in the treatment of opioid use disorder.

NOFO Title: HEAL Initiative: HEALthy Brain and Child Development Consortium Administrative Core (U24 - Clinical Trial Not Allowed)
NOFO Number: RFA-DA-21-022
Summary:

The HEALthy Brain and Child Development National Consortium (HBCD-NC) Administrative Core (HCAC) will coordinate efforts across all sites in the HBCD-NC consortium to ensure that the consortium meets its primary objective to establish a normative model of developmental trajectories over the first 10 years of life. The HBCD-NC will collect neural, behavioral, physiological, and psychological measures, as well as biospecimens, to characterize neurodevelopmental trajectories. The HCAC will oversee study design and monitor the progress of each site’s ability to carry out a common research protocol and will assemble and distribute a comprehensive research dataset to the scientific community. This administrative core is located at the University of California, San Diego.

NOFO Title: HEAL Initiative: Integrative Management of Chronic Pain and OUD for Whole Recovery (IMPOWR): Research Centers (RM1 Clinical Trial Required)
NOFO Number: RFA-DA-21-030
Summary:

The goal of the Tailored Retention and Engagement for Equitable Treatment of Opioid use disorder (OUD) and Pain (TREETOP) research program is to develop effective, equitable, and sustainable interventions for chronic pain and opioid misuse/disorder that improve engagement in medication for opioid misuse/disorder treatment and retention in office-based addiction treatment. TREETOP will prioritize disproportionately affected rural and Black communities. The Engagement research project will investigate whether pain self-management can improve pain and engage primary care patients to seek medication treatment for opioid misuse/disorder. The Retention project will investigate whether pain self-management and/or flexibly dosed buprenorphine/naloxone can improve pain and retention in treatment among patients who have already begun care in office-based addiction treatment programs. With engagement from stakeholders and representatives with varied perspectives and lived experiences, this research will advance the science of sustainably and equitably managing chronic pain and opioid misuse/disorder, prioritizing disproportionately affected communities.

NOFO Title: HEAL Initiative: HEALthy Brain and Child Development Study (Collaborative U01- Clinical Trial Not Allowed)
NOFO Number: RFA-DA-21-020
Summary:

The HEALthy Brain and Child Development National Consortium (HBCD-NC) will establish a normative model of developmental trajectories over the first 10 years of life. All sites in the HBCD-NC will carry out a common research protocol and will assemble and distribute a comprehensive research dataset to the scientific community. The HBCD-NC will collect neural, behavioral, physiological, and psychological measures, as well as biospecimens, to characterize neurodevelopmental trajectories. Most participants will be recruited in the second trimester of pregnancy, with a smaller subset recruited at birth, and followed for the first 10 years of life. The University of San Diego study site will recruit a diverse cohort of mother-infant pairs, including Hispanic and American Indian individuals.

NOFO Title: HEAL Initiative: HEALthy Brain and Child Development Study (Collaborative U01- Clinical Trial Not Allowed)
NOFO Number: RFA-DA-21-020
Summary:

This study aims to determine how exposure to opioids and other substances affects the developing fetal brain and shapes later child cognitive outcomes. Researchers will collect neuroimaging and behavioral data, as well as measures of environmental exposures related to social equity, COVID-19, and socioeconomic factors. The project will reduce traditional barriers to participation by using innovative data collection methods and mobile labs to bring the research to underrepresented and marginalized communities. This approach aims to clarify the impact of substance exposure on child development through an equitable approach to research, with generalizable findings. The study will take place at Rhode Island Hospital, where participants will be drawn from a largely rural population.

NOFO Title: HEAL Initiative: Optimizing Multi-Component Service Delivery Interventions for People with Opioid Use Disorder, Co-Occurring Conditions, and/or Suicide Risk (R01 Clinical Trials Optional)
NOFO Number: RFA-MH-21-145
Summary:

Opioid use disproportionally affects people with co-occurring mental health disorders. Although medication for opioid use disorder (MOUD) is the gold standard of care, engagement rates are low. Also, it is unclear whether addition of one or more behavioral interventions improves outcomes of MOUD treatment, particularly in patients with co-occurring mental health disorders. This project evaluates the effectiveness of the “Maintaining Independence and Sobriety through Systems Integration, Outreach and Networking (MISSION)” intervention—a multi-component, cross-disciplinary, team-based treatment approach that combines three evidence-based practices with MOUD—in people with co-occurring mental health disorders. The 4-year, five-arm, randomized controlled clinical trial will determine the therapeutic benefit of adding MISSION to MOUD and identify the MISSION components that yield the largest clinical improvement and offer the greatest return on investment.

NOFO Title: HEAL Initiative: HEALthy Brain and Child Development Study (Collaborative U01- Clinical Trial Not Allowed)
NOFO Number: RFA-DA-21-020
Summary:

The HEALthy Brain and Child Development National Consortium (HBCD-NC) will establish a normative model of developmental trajectories over the first 10 years of life. All sites in the HBCD-NC will carry out a common research protocol and will assemble and distribute a comprehensive research dataset to the scientific community. The HBCD-NC will collect neural, behavioral, physiological, and psychological measures, as well as biospecimens, to characterize neurodevelopmental trajectories. Most participants will be recruited in the second trimester of pregnancy, with a smaller subset recruited at birth, and followed for the first 10 years of life. The University of Maryland College Park study site is midway between Washington, DC, and Baltimore, Maryland, and will recruit a diverse sample of mother-infant pairs from across the region.

NOFO Title: HEAL Initiative: HEALthy Brain and Child Development Study (Collaborative U01- Clinical Trial Not Allowed)
NOFO Number: RFA-DA-21-020
Summary:

The HEALthy Brain and Child Development National Consortium (HBCD-NC) will establish a normative model of developmental trajectories over the first 10 years of life. All sites in the HBCD-NC will carry out a common research protocol and will assemble and distribute a comprehensive research dataset to the scientific community. The HBCD-NC will collect neural, behavioral, physiological, and psychological measures, as well as biospecimens, to characterize neurodevelopmental trajectories. Most participants will be recruited in the second trimester of pregnancy, with a smaller subset recruited at birth, and followed for the first 10 years of life. This study will take place at Oregon Health and Science University, giving researchers access to people in a region with very high rates of opioid misuse.

NOFO Title: HEAL Initiative: Integrative Management of Chronic Pain and OUD for Whole Recovery (IMPOWR): Research Centers (RM1 Clinical Trial Required)
NOFO Number: RFA-DA-21-030
Summary:

Health care services for patients with both chronic pain and opioid use disorder are fragmented in the United States. To develop effective and feasible interventions for chronic pain and opioid misuse/disorder that can be implemented in both general medical and addiction treatment settings, this research examines two different care-delivery strategies. The first project will compare the effectiveness of a pharmacist-led, collaborative care approach for patients prescribed long-term opioids who have chronic pain and  opioid misuse/disorder compared to a pharmacist program with a cognitive behavior therapy-based pain self-management program. The second project will examine the effectiveness of a multimodal, interdisciplinary chronic pain management program that includes cognitive behavioral therapy, exercise, and stress management. With input from stakeholders and individuals with lived experience, this research has the potential to generate novel, reproducible, and scalable findings that addresses fragmented care delivery for co-occurring chronic pain and opioid misuse/disorder.

NOFO Title: Development of Medications to Prevent and Treat Opioid Use Disorders and Overdose (UG3/UH3) (Clinical Trial Optional)
NOFO Number: PAR-20-092
Summary:

There are currently no effective non-opioid-based pharmacotherapies for treatment of opioid use disorder (OUD). Glial cell line-derived neurotrophic factor (GDNF) is a beneficial protein normally present in low levels in the adult brain, and there is strong evidence that it has clinical potential as a therapy for OUD and relapse reduction. Researchers have developed a non-invasive approach that bypasses the blood-brain barrier to increase levels of GDNF using intranasal administration of gene nanoparticles that make GDNF protein within the brain. This project will test whether this intranasal GDNF gene therapy can suppress drug craving and reduce the tendency to start using a drug again after a period of abstinence in experimental models, thus providing a long-term therapeutic strategy for reducing opioid craving and preventing relapse.

NOFO Title: HEAL Initiative: HEALthy Brain and Child Development Study (Collaborative U01- Clinical Trial Not Allowed)
NOFO Number: RFA-DA-21-020
Summary:

The HEALthy Brain and Child Development National Consortium (HBCD-NC) will establish a normative model of developmental trajectories over the first 10 years of life. All sites in the HBCD-NC will carry out a common research protocol and will assemble and distribute a comprehensive research dataset to the scientific community. The HBCD-NC will collect neural, behavioral, physiological, and psychological measures, as well as biospecimens, to characterize neurodevelopmental trajectories. Most participants will be recruited in the second trimester of pregnancy, with a smaller subset recruited at birth, and followed for the first decade of life. This study will take place at New York University School of Medicine, allowing researchers to recruit participants from two of the largest private and public health systems in the country and include racial and ethnic minorities of varying economic levels.

NOFO Title: HEAL Initiative: Neonatal Opioid Withdrawal Syndrome Pharmacological Treatments Comparative Effectiveness Trial - Clinical Sites (UG1 Clinical Trial Required)
NOFO Number: RFA-HD-21-031
Summary:

Neonatal Opioid Withdrawal Syndrome (NOWS) is a condition that occurs when newborns are exposed to opioids during pregnancy. Symptoms often include tremors, excessive crying, sleep deprivation, and swallowing difficulties. Cases are rising, with a newborn affected by NOWS approximately every 15 minutes. Currently, healthcare providers in the United States lack standard, evidence-based treatments for NOWS. 

This project is part of a multi-center, randomized controlled clinical trial that directly compares NOWS treatments—morphine, methadone, and buprenorphine—and takes into account other types of non-drug therapies, such as behavioral interventions. The goal is to generate results that can inform clinical practice guidelines and give newborns with NOWS the best start possible. 

The University of Louisville serves a large, diverse population that is disproportionately affected by the opioid crisis. Mothers and infants treated by the university’s healthcare team live in rural
and urban underserved regions where the frequency of opioid use during pregnancy is among the highest in the country, with a rate estimated at 3 times the national average.

NOFO Title: HEAL Initiative: HEALthy Brain and Child Development Study (Collaborative U01- Clinical Trial Not Allowed)
NOFO Number: RFA-DA-21-020
Summary:

The HEALthy Brain and Child Development National Consortium (HBCD-NC) will establish a normative model of developmental trajectories over the first 10 years of life. All sites in the HBCD-NC will carry out a common research protocol and will assemble and distribute a comprehensive research dataset to the scientific community. The HBCD-NC will collect neural, behavioral, physiological, and psychological measures, as well as biospecimens, to characterize neurodevelopmental trajectories. Most  participants will be recruited in the second trimester of pregnancy, with a smaller subset recruited at birth, and followed for the first 10 years of life. The Boston Children’s Hospital study site is in Massachusetts, which has the fifth highest rate of opioid use in the U.S., and twice the U.S. average incidence of opioid use disorder in delivering mothers.