Hundreds of millions of dollars from a 2019 opioid maker settlement with the state of Oklahoma has led to a new bond between the land-grant university there and the one here.

The health sciences arms of Oklahoma State and the University of Arizona have teamed up to work toward rapid progress on treating opioid addiction and chronic pain.

“A goal that we have to advance a new therapy to combat opioid overdose, especially fentanyl overdose,” said Frank Porreca, UA pharmacology professor, at a news conference Friday. 

Porreca said UA researchers have found major overlap between the neurobiology of addiction and the neurobiology of pain.