Women who fill opioid prescriptions for pain early in the postpartum period have a higher risk of developing persistent use patterns, according to a research letter published in the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology.

OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma must release the secret marketing records of its powerful opioid, a Kentucky appeals court ruled Dec. 14, according to STAT news.

The American Medical Association, in partnership with the Pennsylvania Medical Society and Manatt Health, released a spotlight analysis of efforts to curb Pennsylvania's opioid epidemic.

Infants born with opioid withdrawal syndrome have smaller heads than babies not exposed to opioids while in utero, according to a study published Dec. 10, in the journal Pediatrics.

A study in the CDC's National Vital Statistics Reports found opioids were among the drugs most often reported in overdose deaths, which increased by 54 percent from 2011-16.

Scientists based in California have created a model that uses Google searches to predict where potential heroin overdoses will occur, according to Quartz.

A nurse working at an addiction treatment program at Boston Medical Center was denied life insurance for carrying the life-saving drug naloxone, according to wbur.

Medical organizations have recommended that Missouri hospital physicians decrease their opioid prescriptions, according to St. Louis Public Radio.

The FDA has announced the eight winners of its Innovation Challenge: Devices to Prevent and Treat Opioid Use Disorder.

After this year's G20 Summit in Buenos Aires, China agreed to reclassify fentanyl as a controlled substance to restrict its illegal distribution to the United States, according to CNN.

Some of the drug marketplaces on the dark web operating in the U.K. have voluntarily banned the sale of fentanyl, the nation's National Crime Agency told The Guardian.

Bloomberg Philanthropies will invest $50 million to fight the nationwide opioid epidemic in up to 10 states over the next three years.

Lawyers representing babies born dependant on opioids are seeking to separate their lawsuit from nationwide litigation against opioid manufacturers, according to Politico.

First lady Melania Trump held a town hall-style meeting at Lynchburg, Va.-based Liberty University Nov. 28 to discuss the opioid epidemic, according to an e-newsletter published by STAT.

A team of scientists and researchers at Springfield, Mo..-based Jordan Valley Innovation Center and  Missouri State are testing a device that could develop into a nonopioid pain relief treatment, according to KY 3.

Medicaid patients treated for opioid-use disorder in New York may have received  prescription opioids from sources outside their treatment — a potentially lethal oversight,  the state comptroller's office revealed in a recent audit, according to the Democrat & Chronicle.

The number of hospitalizations attributed to methamphetamines has jumped by 245 percent due to the opioid epidemic overshadowing increased meth use, according to a study published in JAMA.

Burlington, Vt.-based Howard Center has expanded  its needle-exchange program to include doses of buprenorphine, according to Vox.

San Diego-based Scripps Health reduced its opioid prescriptions by 25 percent in the first year of its Opioid Stewardship Program, according to Patch.

Members of the Sackler family — who own Purdue Pharma, the maker of the prescription opioid OxyContin — face "mass litigation" for their alleged role in the opioid epidemic, unnamed sources told The Guardian.