The team suggests a number of changes to help rebuild trust and reduce stigma for opioid use disorder in rural communities; they also suggest that wholesalers change algorithms to track buprenorphine separately from other opioids.
The ambitious study is organized into six phases, beginning with the basic preparations and leading into actual implementation and monitoring of various evidence-based strategies to reduce opioid deaths.
A new study led by UK researcher April Young and Emory researcher Hannah Cooper shows that a number of pharmacies in the Appalachian region of Kentucky are limiting the dispensing of buprenorphine, a medication used to treat opioid use disorder (OUD).
"It's a wonderful showcase of the breadth and depth of our research." Substance Use Research Day highlights the impactful work of UK faculty, staff and students.
The HEALing Communities Initiative grant from the National Institutes of Health totals $87 million, the largest in its history, and is focused over the next three years on reducing opioid-related deaths by 40 percent in 16 counties in KY.
UK recently received $3 million from the National Institute on Drug Abuse and National Institute on General Medical Sciences to fund new opioid-related research in the criminal justice system.
UK officials provided updates on the Kentucky Viral Hepatitis Treatment Project (KeY Treat), a three-year, $15 million study co-funded by NCI and NIDA with the ultimate goal of eradicating the hepatitis C virus (HCV) in Perry County, KY.
