Back to search

FORSTERK-Forsterkningsmidler

Formidling av funn og verktøy fra OPIOIDREWARD

Alternative title: Dissemination of findings and tools from OPIOIDREWARD

Awarded: NOK 0.80 mill.

As the use of opioid analgesics continues to increase in Norway, we ask: what makes these drugs so addictive? Tremendous resources have been dedicated to charting how people feel after taking a drug, sidestepping the influence of how people feel before they take the drug. In the ERC funded project OPIOIDREWARD, we have turned that approach on its head. The results from this basic science project are helping to resolve hotly debated scientific questions on drug reward and addiction. In addition to the expected outcomes from the project, we have generated tools and insights of high relevance to science and society: 1. Research tools: 1.1. The project has generated key insights into dose determination of opioid antagonist drugs used in clinically and in research to block the brain’s own opioid receptors. These insights will be implemented as open web applications for use by clinicians and researchers. 1.2. To achieve the aims of OPIOIDREWARD, we have established two novel implementations of a stress induction task. We will create an online toolbox to share the specifications of each implementation for use in research. 2. Norwegian clinical findings: 2.1. In parallel to the basic science project, we measure effects of opioid analgesics as they are currently used in Norwegian hospitals. Our results indicate that some opioids can actually reduce patients’ well-being, contrary to common belief. Broad dissemination of the results will help optimise current treatment of surgical patients in Norway.

As the use of opioid analgesics continues to increase in Norway, we ask: what makes these drugs so addictive? Tremendous resources have been dedicated to charting how people feel after taking a drug, sidestepping the influence of how people feel before they take the drug. In the ERC funded project OPIOIDREWARD, we have turned that approach on its head. The results from this basic science project are helping to resolve hotly debated scientific questions on drug reward and addiction. In addition to the expected outcomes from the project, we have generated tools and insights of high relevance to science and society: 1. Research tools: 1.1. The project has generated key insights into dose determination of opioid antagonist drugs used in clinically and in research to block the brain’s own opioid receptors. These insights will be implemented as open web applications for use by clinicians and researchers. 1.2. To achieve the aims of OPIOIDREWARD, we have established two novel implementations of a stress induction task. We will create an online toolbox to share the specifications of each implementation for use in research. 2. Norwegian clinical findings: 2.1. In parallel to the basic science project, we measure effects of opioid analgesics as they are currently used in Norwegian hospitals. Our results indicate that some opioids can actually reduce patients’ well-being, contrary to common belief. Broad dissemination of the results will help optimise current treatment of surgical patients in Norway. Supplementary funding is sought to prepare materials and disseminate these tools and data to researchers and clinicians in Norway via: i) informational websites; ii) web applications; iii) presentations at national meetings for e.g. nursing and anaestesia; iv) public outreach writing; v) press releases to national media; vi) reproducible research tutorials on research tool sharing for Norwegian researchers; and vii) a topical workshop for interested Norwegian researchers.

Funding scheme:

FORSTERK-Forsterkningsmidler

Funding Sources