Department: Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology
Phone: (804) 828-3158
Fax: (804) 828-2117
Email: sidney.negus@vcuhealth.org
Address/Location:
Robert Blackwell Smith Building, Room 760B
410 North 12th Street
Box 980613
Richmond, Virginia 23298
Education
- Ph.D., Neurobiology. University of North Carolina, 1990
Research interests
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Development of new medications to treat pain
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Development of new medications to treat addiction
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Development of novel procedures to assess analgesic and addictive drug effects
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Behavioral pharmacology
Morphine-like opioid drugs are widely used to treat strong pain, but their use is limited by side effects that include high-abuse liability. Our laboratory is engaged in research to study factors that influence these pain-killing and addictive effects of opioids. Our studies are giving us new insights into the mechanisms and potential interactions of pain and addiction, and we are also pioneering new strategies for development of safer analgesics with reduced abuse liability.
This central theme of our work has also stimulated research in three other directions. First, we are working with medicinal chemistry colleagues to develop new medications that might be used to treat drug addiction. Second, we are developing novel and more sophisticated procedures to measure behaviors related to pain and addiction. Finally, our work has led us to develop and refine experimental strategies for the study of drug effects on behavior.
Selected References (Reverse Chronology)
DRUG ABUSE AND ITS TREATMENT
Review Articles
Banks ML, Negus SS, et al. Preclinical abuse potential testing using behavioral economics and drug self-administration demand-curve analysis: A strategy to improve resolution of drug stratification for regulatory control. Pharmacol Rev, 2025; 78:100112. PMCID: PMC12994735
Negus SS. An economon model of drug addiction. Psychopharmacology, 2024; 241:417-425. PMCID: PMC10884072
Banks ML, Negus SS. Insights from preclinical choice models on treating drug addiction. Trends Pharmacol Sci, 2017; 38(2):181-194. PMID: 27916279. PMCID: PMC5258826
Primary Research Articles
Haynes JM, Correa da Rosa J, Butelman ER, Hursh SR, Negus SS. The quantitative economon model as a novel computational tool for addiction research. Exp Clin Psychopharmacol, 2026; in press. PMCID: PMC13002121.
Robinson HL, Moerke MJ, Banks ML, Negus SS. Effects of naltrexone on amphetamine choice in rhesus monkeys and rats. Exp Clin Psychopharmacol, 2023; 31:1080-1091. PMCID: PMC10788965.
Baird TR, Karin KN, Marsh SA, Carroll FI, Medina-Contreras JML, Negus SS, Eltit JM. Rate of onset of dopamine transporter inhibitors assessed with intracranial self-stimulation and in vivo dopamine photometry in rats. Psychopharmacol, 2023; 240-969-981. PMCID: PMC10466267
PAIN AND ITS TREATMENT
Review Articles
Negus SS. Determinants of drug effects in preclinical assays of pain-related behavioral depression: Considerations for analgesic drug development. J Pharmacol Exp Ther, 2025; 392:103621. PMCID: PMC Journal in Progress, PMID: 40541008.
Negus SS. Core outcome measures in preclinical assessment of candidate analgesics. Pharmacol Rev, 2019; 71:225-266. PMCID: PMC6448246
Negus SS. Addressing the opioid crisis: The importance of choosing translational endpoints in analgesic drug discovery. Trends Pharmacol Sci, 2018; 39:327-330. PMCID: PMC5869150
Primary Research Articles
Santos EJ, Fonseca MM, Romero-Sandoval EA, Negus SS. Effects of putative chronic pain models on locomotor activity in female and male mice. J Pain, 2026; 45:106319. PMCID: PMC Journal In Progress, PMID: 42142823
Santos EJ, Akbarali HI, Bow EW, Chambers DR, Gutman ES, Jacobson AE, Kang M, Lee YK, Lutz JA, Rice KC, Sulima A, Negus SS. Low-efficacy mu opioid agonists as candidate analgesics: Effects of novel C-9 substituted phenylmorphans on pain-depressed behavior in mice. J Pharmacol Exp Ther, 2024; 391:138-151. PMCID: PMC11493441
Negus SS, Akbarali HI, Kang M, Lee YK, Marsh SA, Santos EJ, Zhang Y. Role of mu opioid receptor (MOR) agonist efficacy as a determinant of opioid antinociception in a novel assay of pain-depressed behavior in female and male mice. Front Pain Res, 2023; 4:1281698. PMCID: PMC10598607
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