Project Status: 

Dr. Haass-Koffler graduated as CADRE Pilot Project Lead after receiving an R01 in 2022.

Description:

Dr. Haass-Koffler’s project integrated a pharmacological therapy (i.e., oxytocin administration) with a cue-reactivity paradigm and the administration of yohimbine, an α-2 adrenoceptor antagonist that activates the central stress response, in a sample of 20 patients receiving opioid replacement therapy (ORT) with buprenorphine/naloxone. The aim of this project was to evaluate the effects of oxytocin on cue-induced opioid craving after yohimbine stress-induction as well as to assess the safety and tolerability of oxytocin and yohimbine in OUD individuals receiving buprenorphine/naloxone. Long term, the goal of this project is to identify the key neuroendocrine pathways that are responsible for stress-induced craving in individuals with opioid use disorder (OUD) in order to inform treatment and improve therapeutic outcomes for this population. The central hypothesis of this proposal is that stress-induced opioid craving will diminish in patients administering oxytocin in addition to ORT. 

Mentor:

Robert Swift, MD, Brown University

Collaborators & Consultants:

Joshua C. Brown, MD, Harvard University 
Sudie E. Back, Ph.D., University of South Carolina
Elinore McCance-Katz, MD, Brown University 

Research Team:

Zoe Brown, MPH, Project Coordinator
Brian Gully, MA, Senior Research Assistant