How innovation is transforming opioid detection

Opioids are powerful pain-relieving drugs that include natural (e.g., morphine), semi-synthetic (e.g., oxycodone), and synthetic (e.g., fentanyl) substances. While effective for pain management, they are highly addictive and can cause fatal overdoses, especially when misused or mixed with other drugs. Untreated opioid use disorder during pregnancy raises the risk of miscarriage and premature birth. Newborns may be underweight and experience withdrawal symptoms known as neonatal opioid withdrawal syndrome (NOWS) (NIDA, 2024).Dr. Ramisa Fariha, postdoctoral researcher at Brown University, US, shared insights with Co-Editor-in-Chief Dilruba Boksh on a breakthrough in opioid detection using a fully automated device that extracts opioids from dried blood spots (DBS) collected from newborns or serum samples from adults. The method requires only a drop of blood, with a unique 3-minuteautomated sample preparation step, followed by rapid LC-MS/MS analysis, delivering accurate results in under six minutes. This tool addresses a critical gap in neonatal care by offering a rapid, objective, and quantitative method for detecting opioid exposure, which was previously unavailable in routine clinical practice. Beyond neonatal care, this technology could support scalable drug monitoring and biomarker screening across broader populations. It represents a promising step toward bridging high-precision diagnostics with real-world accessibility, whether in advanced hospitals or resource-limited clinics around the world.