The Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai has received a $3.8 million grant from the National Institute on Drug Abuse, part of the National Institutes of Health, to investigate drug overdose cases related to novel synthetic opioids. This study aims to assist emergency department physicians in identifying substances involved in overdoses, assessing their severity, and determining effective treatments for unknown or emerging drugs. The funding will be distributed over five years.
Principal Investigator Alex Manini, MD, MS, Professor of Emergency Medicine at Mount Sinai and Director of Mount Sinai’s Center for Research on Emerging Substances, Poisoning, Overdose, and New Discoveries stated: “Front-line doctors urgently need better tools and information to manage overdose cases, especially involving synthetic drugs. Our study will give them real-time data and insights from across the country so they can deliver faster, more accurate care.”
The opioid epidemic in the United States is worsening. From 2015 to 2023, drug overdose deaths doubled. In 2023 alone, over 108,000 people died from drug overdoses with more than 70% involving opioids. The epidemic costs the nation over $1 trillion annually and results in nearly three million emergency department visits each year.
Previously linked mainly to heroin overdoses, the opioid crisis now predominantly involves synthetic fentanyl analogues which have become more common than heroin as causes of death. These potent new synthetic opioids along with psychoactive adulterants create a toxic supply that many clinicians are unfamiliar with. Physicians face challenges in identifying these substances during overdoses or finding effective treatments as naloxone may not work against new adulterants.
Mount Sinai’s research will include collaboration with ten high-volume hospital systems across the U.S., all part of the national Toxicology Investigators Consortium under the American College of Medical Toxicology. This division focuses on detecting emerging drugs of abuse and toxicological threats.
Patients arriving at emergency departments with opioid overdoses will be studied regarding their illness progression and treatment needs using advanced technology for molecular identification of substances like novel fentanyl analogs and nitazenes – potent opioids undetectable by standard testing methods.
Information about overdose outbreaks will be shared publicly through collaboration with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), updating findings onto its suspected opioid overdose dashboard.
Dr. Manini added: “We aim to predict the effects of emerging synthetic opioids and get ahead of regional outbreaks delivering timely alerts to doctors public health agencies and the public.” He emphasized that once completed this study could significantly advance understanding within drug abuse fields allowing predictions concerning medical outcomes amid America’s ongoing opioid crisis.
