British Columbia is facing an unprecedented and escalating opioid crisis, underscoring the urgent need for innovative science-driven solutions. There is critical implementation gap of evidence-based care for opioid use disorder (OUD), this research will seek to narrow this gap.
First, Dr. Socias will seek to advance the implementation of evidence-base treatments for OUD, by leading a series of ongoing and planned clinical trials evaluating innovative and promising models of care (e.g. take-home strategies) and alternate treatment options (e.g. slow-release oral morphine).
Second, leveraging vast data from two long-standing cohort studies of over 3,000 people who use drugs, she will apply innovative quality metrics (i.e., cascade of care framework) to evaluate the impacts of addiction health system implementation efforts in BC over time. Identifying individual-, social- and structural-level facilitators and barriers to uptake and effectiveness of novel interventions, as well as to how these new addiction programs may impact health care access and outcomes of OUD care and related comorbidities (e.g. HIV, hepatitis C) will be key to informing efforts to improve the delivery of addiction care in BC.
End of Award Update – April 2024
Results
Findings from the OPTIMA trial showed that more flexible approaches to opioid use disorder care are similarly effective than more traditional approaches requiring people to go to the pharmacy every day. This has important clinical and policy implications as there is substantial evidence, including from my own research, that rigid models of care are one of the main barriers to retention in treatment, and that discontinuation from treatment increase the risk of overdose and death. We are now evaluating the effectiveness of novel pharmacotherapies in real-world settings.
Impact
Findings from my research have informed clinical guidelines, and policy decisions (re-introduction of methadone formulation in the OAT program in BC).
Potential Influence
I expect that findings from my research evaluating slow-release morphine will have implications to better understand its benefits and risks in the continuum of care of opioid use disorder.
Next Steps
I will continue with research to close the implementation gap in substance use care, including opioid use disorder, but also using some of the learnings to address alcohol use, which has a substantial burden of disease.
British Columbia is currently in the process of developing and implementing new evidence-based policies and clinical reforms to address problematic substance use, including new: (i) pharmacotherapy approaches (e.g., replacement therapies); (ii) clinical practice guidelines; and (iii) integrated service delivery models of care. While men who have sex with men (MSM) represent a key group with historically high levels of substance use disorder and subsequent social and health-related sequelae (e.g., increased rates of HIV and sexually transmitted and blood-borne infections), there remains a gap in our knowledge about how best to design and implement services for today's generations of various sub-groups of MSM who use drugs (e.g., MSM who are: young; Indigenous; economically deprived).
Dr. Knight's five-year population health research program will adapt health policy and service delivery practices to improve substance use treatment trajectories for key groups of MSM who use drugs and are at risk for severe health and/or social consequences (i.e., the criteria for substance use disorder, as defined under DSM-V criteria). The aim will be to identify the most efficacious and scalable combinations of strategies to adapt interventions that respond to MSM's individual needs and broader social and structural conditions. This approach to implementation science offers a way to go beyond describing the problem and to focus on building an evidence base for implementing and adapting context-sensitive and population-specific solutions into routine policy and practice.
With collaborators representing the BC Ministry of Health, Vancouver Coastal Health, BC Centre for Disease Control and YouthCO HIV/Hep C Society and the BC Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS, as well as through the engagement of the BC Centre on Substance Use's Community Advisory Board, Dr. Knight's findings will be used to inform the development of policies (including clinical and provincial guidelines) to effectively scale up and integrate services that have the capacity to improve substance use treatment trajectories for MSM. Contributions to new knowledge will include the identification of the individual, social and structural factors shaping MSM's ability to reduce problematic drug use and prevent severe health and social outcomes (e.g., HIV and/or Hep C). Study outputs will also be assessed at an annual Stakeholder Workshop in which recommendations will be developed and refined for clinical and provincial guidelines.
British Columbia (BC) faces a mental health and addiction crisis with an estimated cost of $100 million annually. In April 2016, a public health emergency was declared due to an alarming increase in opioid-related overdose deaths in recent years.
People who use illicit drugs (PWUD) bear a great burden of preventable morbidity and mortality from drug overdoses as well as other comorbidities including mental disorders and infectious diseases. While opioid agonist therapies (OAT) have proven effective in reducing heroin use, concomitant use of opioids and stimulant drugs (e.g., heroin and cocaine) is common among PWUD. Furthermore, recent research has suggested that many PWUD also suffer from untreated chronic pain, which may be driving prescription opioid (PO) misuse among this population. However, little is known about patterns of concomitant use of illicit opioids, POs and stimulants, and how OAT and other health services may serve to mitigate potential harms associated with such polydrug use. Currently, no approved pharmacotherapies exist for stimulant use disorder, necessitating urgent research effort in this area.
Dr. Hayashi's research will inform policies, programs and clinical practice to reduce harms associated with polydrug use. The primary research objectives are:
- To investigate and address the impact of PO misuse, untreated chronic pain and concomitant opioid and stimulant use on patterns of drug-related harm.
- Evaluate "naturally occurring" interventions and policy changes (i.e., new opioid addiction-related services and Vancouver Coastal Health's Downtown Eastside Second Generation Strategy) that are relevant to polydrug users.
- Evaluate the efficacy of a novel pharmacotherapy to treat polydrug users.
The research will employ vast longitudinal behavioural and biological data collected since 1996 via three ongoing prospective cohort studies of over 3000 PWUD in Vancouver. The findings are expected to inform care development and overdose prevention efforts for a high needs population in BC. One objective will involve implementing a clinical trial to evaluate whether an amphetamine-based medication reduces powder/crack cocaine use among 130 patients on OAT, who have both opioid and cocaine use disorders. If the study medication proves effective, Dr. Hayashi's research will potentially contribute to the identification of the first proven medication for cocaine addiction.
Canada is amid an opioid crisis, with six or seven deaths a day due to opioid overdose. Prescription opioid misuse can also transition to illicit opiate and intravenous drug use, substantially increasing the risk for overdose and blood-borne infections. Rates of overdose death due to counterfeit fentanyl have also risen and represent a growing crisis in most regions in Canada, with British Columbia (BC) being particularly hard hit. Half of the 800 anticipated overdose deaths for 2016 in BC are expected to involve fentanyl.
Dr. Fairbairn’s research will:
- Address the effectiveness of a randomized controlled trial to evaluate a designated opioid prescriber intervention using BC’s centralized prescription network to reduce inappropriate opioid dispensation and overdose risk.
- Inform overdose prevention strategies by characterizing the inter-relationships between medication prescribing patterns and patterns of illicit drug use.
- Evaluate the longitudinal impacts of new overdose prevention initiatives and addiction treatment guidelines on overdose outcomes.
This research directly responds to BC’s recent declaration of a public health emergency, Health Canada’s urgent call to develop strategies to tackle the overdose epidemic, and the global challenge of prescription opioid abuse by generating evidence for safer prescribing practices and informing and broadening the evidence base for the treatment of opioid addiction.
