Proposals are due March 15 in response to an NIH funding opportunity announcement for embedded pragmatic clinical trials that address pain management and the opioid crisis. The NIH will support 1 to 2 pragmatic trials that evaluate acupuncture treatment in older adults with chronic low back pain. The projects will join the NIH Health Care Systems Research Collaboratory as phased UG3/UH3 cooperative research.

Read the full announcement: Pragmatic Randomized Controlled Trial of Acupuncture for Management of Chronic Low Back Pain in Older Adults

The request for applications is part of the NIH Heal (Helping to End Addiction Long-term) Initiative, which was created in April 2018 in an effort to speed scientific solutions for addressing the national opioid public health crisis.