BATTLING IT OUT
UH on the Front Lines of the War Against Opioid Use Disorder
Battle lines have been drawn inside research labs across the University of Houston campus. The enemy: addiction. The substance: opioids.
From developing a vaccine to fight fentanyl to writing national guidelines for pharmacists to address opioid use disorder, UH is taking the lead in battling what the Centers for Disease Control call an opioid overdose epidemic, one that has claimed hundreds of thousands nationwide.
Over 150 people die every day from overdoses of synthetic opioids including fentanyl, which is 50 times stronger than heroin and 100 times stronger than morphine. Consumption of about 2 milligrams of fentanyl (1/10th the weight of one grain of rice) is likely to be fatal depending on a person’s size.
Driven by purpose and the art of innovation, researchers at UH are developing life-changing solutions to provide hope and healing amid a public health emergency that has taken an enormous human toll.
Battle lines have been drawn inside research labs across the University of Houston campus. The enemy: addiction. The substance: opioids.
From developing a vaccine to fight fentanyl to writing national guidelines for pharmacists to address opioid use disorder, UH is taking the lead in battling what the Centers for Disease Control call an opioid overdose epidemic, one that has claimed hundreds of thousands nationwide.
Over 150 people die every day from overdoses of synthetic opioids including fentanyl, which is 50 times stronger than heroin and 100 times stronger than morphine. Consumption of about 2 milligrams of fentanyl (1/10th the weight of one grain of rice) is likely to be fatal depending on a person’s size.
Driven by purpose and the art of innovation, researchers at UH are developing life-changing solutions to provide hope and healing amid a public health emergency that has taken an enormous human toll.
FENTANYL VACCINE IN CLINCIAL TRIALS
Inside the UH Drug Discovery Institute, Colin Haile, research associate professor of psychology and a founding member of the institute, developed a vaccine targeting fentanyl that could block its ability to enter the brain, thus eliminating the drug’s “high” and potential deadly effects due to overdose.
The breakthrough discovery could have major implications for the nation’s opioid epidemic.
“Our discovery is bringing hope to patients and their families, turning complex science into lifesaving medicine,” said Haile, who is also co-founder and scientific adviser of ARMR Sciences, the company that licensed the vaccine. Haile added that the vaccine could also protect the military against the drug’s use as a chemical threat along with first responders and police who encounter unknown substances.
"Our discovery is bringing hope to patients and their families, turning complex science into lifesaving medicine."
Haile’s vaccine is undergoing its first human clinical trial at the Center for Human Drug Research, affiliated with the University of Leiden in the Netherlands. If successful, the work could accelerate approval of other drug vaccines, such as those for cocaine and methamphetamine currently in development, according to Haile.
"If we can tackle the primary ones — fentanyl, cocaine and methamphetamine — we will be saving hundreds of thousands of lives," he said.
UH COLLEGE OF PHARMACY SETS NATIONAL STANDARD
With approximately 2.7 million people in the U.S. affected by opioid use disorder, the need for effective management strategies has never been more urgent.
Enter the University of Houston College of Pharmacy. Researchers there have written new practice guidelines for pharmacists to allow more lifesaving drugs like buprenorphine to be dispensed in community pharmacies. Published by the National Association of Boards of Pharmacy, the new guide targets barriers to treatment in community pharmacies where many do not stock needed medications.
“The PhARM-OUD Guideline marks a significant advancement as the first consensus, evidence-based practice guideline specifically tailored for community pharmacists to eliminate confusion and fear surrounding the dispensing of buprenorphine,” said Douglas Thornton, associate professor and director of the UH Prescription Drug Misuse Education and Research (PREMIER) Center.
"There is a sense of urgency in the guidelines to address knowledge gaps that have historically hindered pharmacists from providing OUD treatment, while at the same time encouraging pharmacists to confidently engage in patient-centered care."
Douglas Thornton, associate professor and director of the UH Prescription Drug Misuse Education and Research (PREMIER) Center.
Douglas Thornton, associate professor and director of the UH Prescription Drug Misuse Education and Research (PREMIER) Center.
The guidelines urge pharmacists to reduce stigma associated with dispensing buprenorphine, to improve their understanding of state and federal regulations, and to enhance communication with health care providers.
“There is a sense of urgency in the guidelines to address knowledge gaps that have historically hindered pharmacists from providing OUD treatment, while at the same time encouraging pharmacists to confidently engage in patient-centered care,” said Thornton.
Developed through a collaborative effort with an expert panel that includes psychiatrists, psychiatric pharmacists, and representatives from the National Association of Boards of Pharmacy and the National Community Pharmacists Association, the guideline reflects a comprehensive approach to pharmacy practice for patients with OUD. The American Society of Addiction Medicine, the American Pharmacists Association, the American Society of Health Systems Pharmacists, the American Association of Psychiatric Pharmacists, and Vital Strategies, a leading global public health organization, have all expressed support for the guidance.
EXPLORING HIGHER RATES OF OUD IN HIV PATIENTS
Down the hall at the UH College of Pharmacy, Dipali Rinker, research associate professor and member of the PREMIER Center, is leading the university’s participation in a $21.2 million Texas effort to tackle the opioid epidemic by examining opioid use disorder among people living with HIV in Harris County and integrating prevention.
Harris County has higher numbers of drug poisoning-related deaths due to commonly prescribed opiates, heroin, fentanyl and other synthetic opioids than any other public health region in the state.
Of the approximately 1.2 million people living with HIV in the U.S., nearly twice as many are likely to misuse opioids as people not living with HIV.
"There are shared risk factors in both disease states with a high likelihood of pain among people living with HIV leading to opioid prescriptions."
“There are shared risk factors in both disease states with a high likelihood of pain among people living with HIV leading to opioid prescriptions,” said Rinker. “Then in seeking treatment for opioid use disorder, people living with HIV are more likely to experience stigma, social marginalization and discrimination due to their dual diagnosis.”
Rinker, along with co-investigators from Baylor College of Medicine Bich Dang, M.D. and Shital Patel, M.D., who is also director of the Houston AIDS Education & Training Center, will seek to determine the extent to which Screening, Brief Intervention, and Referral to Treatment is implemented into the treatment of people living with HIV and opioid use disorder. They will assess the program among patients engaged in treatment at one of five Ryan White-funded clinics in Houston and Harris County.
The Texas Opioid Abatement Fund Council awarded 109 grants to entities that are working on solutions to the epidemic. These funds were made available through the Short-term Community-based Opioid Recovery Effort grant opportunity.
In fact, the money comes from opioid lawsuits.
MACHINE LEARNING TRACKS HEROIN-INDUCED BRAIN DISRUPTION
A mathematics lab doesn’t seem the most natural place to study the impact of heroin addiction on the brain, but that’s what’s happening in Professor Demetrio Labate’s math lab. He is leading a team collaborating with researchers at the University of Cincinnati to create step-by-step procedures, or algorithms, that power computers to map changes in the brain from heroin addiction.
“We are applying object recognition technology to track changes in brain cell structure and provide new insights into how the brain responds to heroin use, withdrawal and relapse,” said Labate. “Our insights could transform treatment options.”
The team is focusing on astrocyte cells, which can protect brain health and undergo vast structural rearrangements following drug use.
“By uncovering how astrocytes are altered by heroin use, we’re opening new doors not just for addiction research, but for understanding the brain’s response to a wide range of drugs and neurological conditions,” said Michela Marini, a UH doctoral student and first author of the published research. “This kind of work is essential for developing more effective drug addiction treatments in the future.”
L to R: Assistant Professor Yabo Nui and Professor Demetrio Labate from the Department of Mathematics in the College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics, with student Michela Marini.
L to R: Assistant Professor Yabo Nui and Professor Demetrio Labate from the Department of Mathematics in the College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics, with student Michela Marini.
Along with Marini, Labate’s team includes doctoral student Heng Zhao and colleague Yabo Niu, who has a dual appointment in the Department of Mathematics and the Tilman J. Fertitta Family College of Medicine’s Department of Health Systems and Population Health Sciences.
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