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The researchers are presenting their work today at the 254th National Meeting & Exposition of the American Chemical Society (ACS). "There is an urgent need to discover effective medications to treat substance use disorders. Increasingly, drug users are turning to opioids and powerful synthetic versions of these drugs that can sometimes be as much as 100 times more potent than heroin," says Kim D. Janda, Ph.D., who led the research into the vaccines. "Moreover, many patients receiving treatment relapse." The rise of synthetic opioids such as fentanyl is a critical element in the opioid crisis in the U.S. Heroin laced with fentanyl or fentanyl alone have contributed to the dramatic rise in overdose deaths among addicts. Janda's team at the Scripps Research Institute has prepared a vaccine that is effective against fentanyl and has made progress in the development of a combination vaccine that offers protection from both heroin and fentanyl. In addition ...

Alcohol consumption during pregnancy can cause a wide range of adverse health effects. The effects of prenatal alcohol exposure can have lifelong implications so FASD is costly for society. Updated prevalence estimates are needed to prioritize, plan and deliver health care to high-needs populations, such as children and young people with FASD. Svetlana Popova, Ph.D., of the Institute for Mental Health Policy Research, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, Toronto, Canada, and coauthors conducted a meta-analysis of 24 studies including 1,416 children and youth diagnosed with FASD. The authors report: The global prevalence of FASD among children and youth was estimated to be about 8 of 1,000 in the general population. An estimated 1 of every 13 pregnant women who consumed alcohol while pregnant was estimated to deliver a child with FASD. Based on select studies, the prevalence of FASD among special populations (e.g., Aboriginal populations, children in care, incarcerated an...