Nora Volkow to Discuss Advances in Addiction Research

As pervasive as the opioid crisis has become, it remains a fact that most people who are prescribed opioids will not misuse them. Why can some people take these powerful analgesics without any addiction concerns while others are at significant risk?

That question of drug vulnerability will be an important theme of the special lecture by National Institute on Drug Abuse Director Nora Volkow, M.D., at this year’s APA Annual Meeting. Volkow’s talk, titled “Advances in Addiction Research,” will provide an overview of recent findings related to the neurobiology of addiction and how they are helping to advance addiction care.

The topics will include new insights into how both genetic and social factors can put people at greater risk of becoming addicted to substances, as well as updated information on changes in brain circuitry that lead to compulsive and addictive behaviors.

While a good portion of the talk will center on addiction in adults, Volkow stressed that addiction affects all ages. Thus, there will be discussion on why teenage brains are more susceptible to addiction and how addictive substances taken by pregnant women can affect newborns.

This new knowledge in turn is leading to promising research on novel treatment strategies, such as behavioral interventions that can strengthen vulnerable brain circuits and vaccines that can help prevent relapse. Volkow will discuss some of these new treatment advances, as well as how these neurobiological discoveries can improve the success of existing substance use medications.

Volkow told Psychiatric News that her talk will emphasize how these new discoveries can impact the ongoing opioid crisis, since this is an area in which new treatment and prevention strategies are desperately needed. As Volkow explained, while the opioid epidemic has been persisting for years, the characteristics of the epidemic are continually changing. For example, today more people initiate opioid use via heroin as opposed to the prescription drugs oxycodone and hydrocodone, while fentanyl has emerged from obscurity to become one of the leading opioid-related causes of death.

Opioids and opioid treatment will be significant areas of discussion at Volkow’s other meeting events. On Monday, May 7, she will participate in a workshop on new initiatives undertaken by the Veterans Health Administration to improve access to evidence-based treatments for opioid use disorder and alcohol use disorder. On Wednesday, May 9, she will be the discussant in a session that will review five recently completed clinical trials on opioid pharmacotherapies. ■