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Stanford University researchers developed a mathematical model that could help public health officials and policymakers decrease the effects of the opioid epidemic, which took the lives of roughly 49,000 Americans in 2017. The model includes data about addictions, prescriptions and overdoses in the United States which can be used for “what if” scenarios similar to those that business leaders run through to project how changing product features or prices affect sales and profits, said Margaret Brandeau, PhD, the Coleman F. Fung Professor in the School of Engineering and a professor of management science and engineering who worked on the study. The paper cites the hard facts of the opioid crisis: Between 1990 and 2010, there was a 400 percent spike in prescriptions for opioid painkillers. Today, roughly 3.5 million Americans suffer from an addiction to opioids as a result of being exposed to opioid pills. Yet, as doctors have begun responding to the crisis by reducing prescriptions, overdose deaths have incr