India, March 22 -- A clinical trial of an experimental drug designed to treat cravings associated with opioid use disorder (OUD) has begun in the National Institutes of Health Clinical Center. The Phase I trial in healthy adults will assess the safety of the experimental compound, ANS-6637, and how it is processed in the body when given with another drug that is processed by the same liver enzyme pathway.

The NIH's National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) is helping to conduct the trial, which is funded through NIH's Helping to End Addiction Long-Term (HEAL) Initiative, a comprehensive program to accelerate research efforts to stem the public health crisis of OUD.

Anthony S. Fauci, NIAID Director said, "Opioid drugs...