The Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai has received a $3.8 million grant from the National Institute on Drug Abuse, a division of the National Institutes of Health, to investigate drug overdose cases associated with new synthetic opioids. This research aims to assist Emergency Department physicians in identifying substances consumed by individuals, assessing the severity of overdoses, and determining the most effective treatments for cases involving previously unknown or emerging drugs. The grant will be distributed over a five-year period.

Dr. Alex Manini, the Principal Investigator and Professor of Emergency Medicine at Mount Sinai, emphasizes the importance of providing frontline doctors with improved tools and information to manage overdose cases, particularly those involving synthetic drugs. The study will offer real-time data and insights from various regions across the country, enabling healthcare providers to administer quicker and more accurate care.

The opioid epidemic in the United States has been on the rise, with drug overdose deaths doubling from 2015 to 2023. In 2023, drug overdose deaths exceeded 108,000 for the first time, with over 70 percent involving opioids. This crisis costs the U.S. over $1 trillion annually and results in nearly 3 million Emergency Department visits each year.

Initially, most illicit opioid overdoses were associated with heroin, but the introduction of synthetic opioid fentanyl analogues into the drug supply has shifted the landscape. These potent novel synthetic opioids, combined with psychoactive adulterants, have now surpassed heroin as the leading cause of overdose deaths. Detecting these new drugs in the illicit opioid supply poses a challenge for physicians, making it difficult to identify them in patients or determine the most effective treatment.

The study led by Mount Sinai will involve 10 high-volume hospital systems across the U.S. that are part of the national Toxicology Investigators Consortium. Researchers will focus on studying patients who present at emergency departments with opioid overdose, analyzing their illness progression, confirming ingested substances, identifying clinical risk factors, and addressing treatment requirements. Advanced technology will be utilized for molecular identification to confirm the presence of novel fentanyl analogs, adulterants, and potent opioids like nitazenes that are increasingly found in the illicit opioid supply.

Additionally, researchers will collaborate with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to share information on overdose outbreaks and trends with the public. Study results will be updated on the CDC's suspected opioid overdose dashboard, aiming to provide timely alerts to healthcare professionals, public health agencies, and the general population.

Dr. Manini anticipates that this study will significantly advance the field of drug abuse, enabling the prediction of medical consequences for numerous victims of the U.S. opioid epidemic once completed.