NBC Bay Area 2 Part Series: Perhaps the biggest threat to contact sports, particularly football, is concussions. They’re ending careers early and leaving countless players with permanent brain damage. But new research in California suggests there could be a cure on the horizon.

San Diego — In 2014, Heron Therapeutics took notice of the role of postoperative pain in opioid addiction. So, the company dusted off a shelved drug program. Heron is among the San Diego pharma and biotechs rushing to market with alternatives to opioids, dependence on which mushroomed into a national health epidemic. Their treatments aim to prevent dependence, overdoses and side effects.

SAN DIEGO -- In a collaboration that could lead to a new class of drugs to replace opioids and help fight the national opioid epidemic, Renew Biopharma today announced it is collaborating with Ken Mackie from the Indiana University (Bloomington) Gill Center for Biomolecular Science to help screen and develop human therapeutics using Renew’s natural and novel cannabinoid molecules in a pre-clinical drug discovery program.