Scientists are one step closer to creating an opioid that offers pain relief without the euphoria, dependence and life-threatening respiratory suppression associated with addiction, reports NPR.
Laura Bohn, PhD, paved the way for an addiction-free opioid in 2000 when she discovered that mice absent of a protein called beta-arrestin were still numb to pain when given morphine, but lacked many of the drug's negative side effects.
Researchers at Stanford (Calif.) University School of Medicine have built off of Dr. Bohn's work, conducting a new study on mice that was featured Wednesday in Nature.
They attempted to find a different molecule that could bind to the brain's opioid receptor without causing the addictive side effects associated with the beta-arrestin protein.
Scientists discovered that a chemical called PZM21 effectively turned on the opioid receptor without using too much beta-arrestin. When tested in mice, the chemical produced beneficial pain reduction levels and the test subjects did not exhibit behavior associated with addiction.
Aashish Manglik, MD, PhD, lead author, and a few of his collaborators founded a company focused on bringing these new drugs to market. The King of Prussia, Pa.–based drug company Trevena is also running clinical trials for a similar molecule.
However, an addiction-free opioid is still a long way off. "We have some really gorgeous compounds, and I think opiates are a terrible epidemic. But I would be careful of overselling this as the answer," Dr. Bohn told NPR.