Nebraska lawmakers voted April 8 to advance a bill that aims to increase measures of the state's prescription drug monitoring program, The Columbus Telegram reports.

Activists in Washington, D.C., placed an 800-pound heroin spoon branded with the FDA's logo outside of the main office of HHS April 5 to protest the drug agency's handling of the opioid epidemic, according to STAT.

Charlotte, N.C.-based Atrium Health is partnering with several state agencies, among other stakeholders, to launch More Powerful NC — a public education campaign to raise awareness about opioid use disorder and spur action against the opioid epidemic.

The New York attorney general is suing six opioid manufacturers, the Sackler family and four prescription drug distributors in a massive legal fight against the pharma industry accused of fueling the opioid crisis, according to CNBC.

The Philadelphia-based nonprofit Safehouse is in negotiations to secure a building for the nation's first supervised injection site, reports WHYY.

A leading academic that chairs an FDA advisory panel and a consumer advocacy group filed a petition asking the agency to impose a moratorium on approving new or reformulated opioids, according to a STAT news report.

Delaware's Division of Public Health released a mobile app that instructs users on how to administer naloxone to an individual experiencing an opioid overdose, Delaware Business Now reports.

The FDA has granted fast track designation to an emergency opioid overdose antidote manufactured by OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma, according to MarketWatch.

The United States is amidst a crisis in population health related to opioid dependence and abuse.

More than half of Department of Veterans Affairs enrollees also have Medicare drug coverage, a dual system that can lead to uncoordinated and potentially unsafe opioid use, according to a study published in the Annals of Internal Medicine.

Salem, Mass.-based North Shore Medical Center and nonprofit human service agency Bridgewell recently started offering recovery coaches to patients being treated for drug overdoses, The Boston Globe reports.

CMS updated its Opioid Prescribing Mapping Tool to give users a more in-depth look at opioid prescribing rates across the U.S., the agency announced Feb. 22.

The FDA will require pharmaceutical companies to study whether their opioid products are effective treatments for chronic pain, reports The Washington Post.

Asthma is common among the opioid-dependent patient population, according to research presented at the 2019 Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology, Feb. 22 to 25, in San Francisco.

U.S. deaths linked to opioids increased fourfold in the last 20 years, and the epidemic has had a significant effect on Eastern states, a study published in JAMA Network Open found.

Richard Sackler, MD, a former Purdue Pharma executive and member of the billionaire family that founded and controls the company, embraced a plan to conceal OxyContin's strength in an effort to boost prescriptions and sales, newly unveiled court documents cited by ProPublica and STAT reveal.

To help combat the nation's opioid crisis, Google said it will begin to displaying local prescription drug disposal locations on Google Maps.

The New York Academy of Sciences and Columbia University, both in New York City,  are joining the list of universities and nonprofits reviewing their philanthropic ties to Purdue Pharma and its owners, The Wall Street Journal reports.

In response to the opioid crisis, Akron, Ohio-based Summa Health is drastically reducing the use of opioids in surgeries, according to News 5 Cleveland.

Many emergency departments send overdose patients home without medication-assisted therapies or a referral to other types of treatment, which misses an opportunity to help address the nation's opioid crisis, reports Kaiser Health News.