How prescription opioid use may affect cancer risk
Official title: The Opioid Cohort Consortium (OPICO) to investigate the effects of using opioids on cancer risk
Funded at International Agency for Res on Cancer · NIH-11321686 · Data updated 2026-11-12
Researchers are combining medical and pharmacy records from many countries to learn if people who take prescription opioids have higher chances of developing cancers like bladder or lung cancer.
Quick facts
| Grant type | U01 cooperative agreement |
|---|---|
| Study type | NIH-funded research |
| Funding institution | International Agency for Res on Cancer NIH-funded |
| Lab location | 1 site (Lyon, France) |
| Project start | April 1, 2024 |
| Project end | March 31, 2029 |
| Funding year | 2026 |
| Award (this year) | $522,732 |
| NIH project number | 5U01CA289226-03 |
| Project ID | NIH-11321686 on NIH RePORTER |
Who could benefit from this research
✓Could help
Adults with recorded prescription opioid use and linked medical or pharmacy records in participating U.S., European, or Australian cohorts would be the kinds of patients whose data could be included.
✕Less likely to help
People without accessible medical or pharmacy records, children, or those with only a single short opioid prescription are less likely to be included or to benefit directly.
What this research studies
If I were part of this project, researchers would bring together my medical records, pharmacy dispensing data, and information from long-term cohort studies across the United States, Europe, and Australia. They will harmonize data from 19 sources so opioid prescriptions, smoking, alcohol use, and chronic conditions are measured the same way across studies. That will let them compare cancer rates, including bladder and lung cancer, between people with different patterns of opioid use while accounting for other risk factors. The effort builds on a 2020 pilot and uses multidisciplinary methods to reduce bias and improve the accuracy of results.
Why it matters
Potential benefit: If successful, the work could clarify whether prescription opioids raise cancer risk and help doctors make safer prescribing and prevention decisions.
How similar studies have gone: Previous studies on opioid use and cancer have been limited and inconsistent, so this large harmonized multi-country approach is relatively novel.
Where this research is happening
-
International Agency for Res on Cancer
Lyon, France Active
Researchers
- Principal investigator: Sheikh, Mahdi — International Agency for Res on Cancer
- Study coordinator: Sheikh, Mahdi
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About this research
- This is an active NIH-funded research project — typically early-stage science, not a clinical trial accepting patient enrollment.
- Some NIH-funded labs run parallel clinical studies or seek volunteers for related work. To check, contact the principal investigator or institution listed above.
- For full project details, budget, and progress reports, visit the official NIH RePORTER page.