[Federal Register Volume 83, Number 214 (Monday, November 5, 2018)]
[Notices]
[Pages 55377-55378]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2018-24149]


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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

National Institutes of Health


Draft Report on Health Research and Development To Stem the 
Opioid Crisis: A Federal Roadmap; Request for Comments

AGENCY: National Institutes of Health, HHS.

[[Page 55378]]


ACTION: Notice for public comment.

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SUMMARY: The Office of the Director, National Institutes of Health 
(NIH), on behalf of the National Science and Technology Council (NSTC); 
Committee on Science; Fast Track Action Committee on Health Science and 
Technology Response to the Opioid Crisis (Opioid FTAC), is requesting 
input on the content of a draft report, ``Health Research and 
Development to Stem the Opioid Crisis: A Federal Roadmap.''

DATES: Comments must be submitted on or before December 5, 2018.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments by email to 
[email protected]. Please include ``Health Research and 
Development to Stem the Opioid Crisis: A Federal Roadmap'' in the 
subject line of the message.
    Instructions: The draft report is available for download at: 
https://www.nih.gov/draft-ftac. Response to this Notice for Public 
Comments is voluntary. Clearly indicate the section and page number, if 
applicable, to which submitted comments pertain. All submissions must 
be in English. Please clearly label submissions as regarding ``Health 
Research and Development to Stem the Opioid Crisis: A Federal 
Roadmap.'' When the final report is issued, relevant comments and the 
commenters' names, along with the commenters' responses, may become 
part of the public record and be made available to view online. NIH 
therefore requests that commenters do not submit business proprietary 
information, copyrighted information, or personally identifiable 
information in response to this Notice for Public Comment. Please note 
that the U.S. Government will not pay for response preparation or for 
the use of any information contained in the response.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Sara Brenner, Office of Science and 
Technology Policy, (202) 456-444, or [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Opioid FTAC was chartered in December 
2017 to facilitate coordination of health Research and Development 
(R&D) and related Science and Technology (S&T) activities across 
agencies, and with other Administration initiatives, in support of the 
national response to the opioid crisis; facilitate interagency sharing 
of opioid-related health R&D findings, standard-based data and tools, 
and best practices; assess gaps in, and opportunities for 
strengthening, the R&D and related S&T response to the opioid crisis; 
and, identify opportunities to expedite promising and potentially 
groundbreaking R&D efforts to rapidly combat the crisis.
    The draft report builds on the recommendations in the report from 
the President's Commission on Combating Drug Addiction and The Opioid 
Crisis, as well as recommendations from multiple other sources, such as 
the National Academy of Sciences report on Pain Management and the 
Opioid Epidemic, the Interagency Pain Research Coordinating Committee's 
Federal Pain Research Strategy, the National Governors Association 
report on Governor's Recommendations for Federal Action to End the 
Nation's Opioid Crisis, and the Surgeon General's report Facing 
Addiction in America, among others, to identify research and 
development opportunities to coordinate the Federal Government's S&T 
response to the opioid crisis. This notice solicits relevant public 
input on the draft report.
    The report describes:
     Seven areas of R&D: (1) The Biology and Chemistry of 
Opioid Addiction and Pain, (2) Non-Biological Contributors to Opioid 
Addiction, (3) Pain Management, (4) Prevention of Opioid Addiction, (5) 
Treatment of Opioid Addiction and Withdrawal, (6) Overdose Prevention 
and Recovery, and (7) Community Consequences of Opioid Addiction;
     Research recommendations generated by the Opioid FTAC in 
each of these areas;
     An eighth section that includes recommendations on ways to 
enhance Federal interagency coordination as well as coordination with 
non-Federal stakeholders.

    Dated: October 29, 2018.
Lawrence A. Tabak,
Deputy Director, National Institutes of Health.
[FR Doc. 2018-24149 Filed 11-2-18; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 4140-01-P