Key Dates

Related Announcements

None

Issued by

National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS)

National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA)

Purpose

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) Helping to End Addiction Long-term^® Initiative, or NIH HEAL Initiative^®, supports research to accelerate scientific solutions to the overdose crisis, including improved interventions for opioid use disorder, overdose reversals and pain management. The purpose of this Request for Information (RFI) is to solicit input on the future of the HEAL Initiative and how scientific research can address the urgent public health challenges of opioid use disorder (OUD), overdose, and chronic pain. The NIH is soliciting input from all interested parties, including members of the scientific community, the private sector, community-based organizations, health professionals, professional societies, advocacy groups, patient communities, people with living/lived experience, caregivers, funding agencies and other interested members of the public.

Background

Misuse of opioids, opioid use disorder, and overdose deaths are urgent public health challenges in the United States. Synthetic opioids such as fentanyl and increasing co-use of stimulants and opioids are currently driving the overdose crisis and making the treatment of opioid use disorder more challenging. Nearly 9-12 million Americans ages 12 and older misused opioids in the past year, and an estimated 2-6 million of these had an opioid use disorder.  In parallel, chronic pain affects 50 million adults in the United States with nearly 20 million living daily with chronic pain that interferes with their lives. Lack of safe and effective pain management for many different pain conditions is an urgent public health need. Overprescribing of opioid medications for pain management contributed to the early phases of the opioid crisis. Although inappropriate opioid prescriptions have decreased, many people with chronic pain do not have access to safe and effective pain treatments, which puts them at risk for misuse of illicitly manufactured opioids. Developing non-addictive pain therapies that can be used as alternatives to opioids is essential for individuals with chronic pain and an important part of achieving a long-term solution for OUD. 

The NIH HEAL Initiative is an NIH-wide, collaborative research effort aimed at accelerating scientific solutions for opioid use disorder, overdose, and pain management. The HEAL Initiative is co-led by the National Institute on Drug Abuse and the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke in collaboration with 17 other NIH ICOs.

Information Requested

NIH aims to solicit input from a wide range of perspectives and interest groups on future HEAL research priorities with respect to 1) research on opioid use disorder and overdose not already captured in NIDA’s strategic plan, 2) research aimed at addressing unmet needs for pain management, and 3) cross-cutting research at the intersection of opioid use disorder/overdose and pain management. Such input could include but is not limited to the following areas of interest:

• Gap areas in the current or past HEAL research portfolio (as outlined on https://heal.nih.gov/research) that should be addressed to advance the HEAL mission.
• Opportunities to advance health equity in the treatment and prevention of substance use disorder (SUD), overdose (OD), and in pain management for all people across the lifespan.
• Comments on how research can better address the priorities of people with living/lived experience as part of the overall HEAL Initiative.
• Opportunities to strengthen, expand, and diversify the SUD and pain research workforce and enhance research capacity to incorporate diverse approaches and contributions to the HEAL Initiative.
• Opportunities to foster innovation and enhance the value of HEAL research through partnerships with other federal agencies, healthcare systems, professional societies, non-profit organizations, the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries and healthcare payors
• Comments on how to address barriers (including stigma) that prevent effective dissemination and implementation of evidence-based interventions to people with living/lived experience, communities, providers, and in diverse community and health care settings.
• Opportunities to leverage data to accelerate research discovery, responses to the public health emergency, inform policy, healthcare delivery and reimbursement, and otherwise advance the mission of the HEAL Initiative.
• Opportunities for research on the optimal role and/or effectiveness of opioids in long-term treatment & management of chronic pain.
• Research needed to assess an individual’s risk for SUD when prescribing opioids for pain.
• Research needed to address pathways to care for individuals with chronic pain and co-morbid psychiatric or other medical disorders 
• Specifically, for the HEAL pain research portfolio aimed at addressing unmet needs for pain management, to include:
  • Future-looking strategic priorities that will advance research within the following focus areas:
    • Non-addictive pain therapeutics development
    • Pain biomarkers and predictors
    • Optimization of existing and novel interventions to prevent transition from acute to chronic pain, to improve the management of severe pain, and reduce risk of addiction
    • Pathways to pain care, implementation, and health services across the lifespan
  • Areas of pain research that are not covered in the above list of focus areas that are important for the HEAL Initiative to address.
• Any other research topics relevant for NIH to consider in developing strategic plans for the future of the HEAL Initiative.

How to Submit a Response

To assure consideration, your responses must be received by July 31, 2024. Responses to this RFI must be submitted via email to HEALquestion@od.nih.gov with "HEAL RFI" in the subject line.

Responses to this RFI are voluntary. Any personal identifiers will be removed when responses are compiled. Individual feedback will not be provided to any responder. Proprietary, classified, confidential, or sensitive information should not be included in your response. This Request for Information (RFI) is for planning purposes only and is not a solicitation for applications or an obligation on the part of the United States (U.S.) Government to provide support for any ideas identified in response to it. Please note that the U.S. Government will not pay for the preparation of any comment submitted or for its use of that comment. The information submitted will be analyzed and may be shared internally, appear in reports, or be reflected in future solicitations, as appropriate and at the Government’s discretion. Respondents are advised that the Government is under no obligation to acknowledge receipt of the information provided and will not provide feedback to respondents. 

Inquiries

Please direct all inquiries to:

HEALquestion@od.nih.gov with "HEAL RFI" in the subject line.