A New Painkiller That Could Reduce Drug-Related Deaths

An overdose on painkillers is not a peaceful way to expire. It cuts of the respiratory system and halts breathing of the patient. 30,000 people in the United States overdose on drugs such as morphine a year, caused by the loss of air. There may be, however, a new drug that does not have the killing property of morphine. While it is not an absolute certainty at this point, this new drug may be able to help with the drug overdose epidemic. Those developing the drug still need additional testing to make certain of the properties of this new drug.

The use of morphine dates back to the nineteenth century, when it was derived from opium poppy. Other drugs that have been procured from opium poppy are unavoidable when speaking about drug addiction, and at this point have become household names. Codeine, Oxycodone and Fentanyl all originate from the same plant, so it’s obvious how profound of a problem opiates pose. This new compound, tested on mice, did not ascertain high addiction or death in large amounts, as the aforementioned drugs have.

The way these drugs suppress pain is by attaching to a part of the brain, known as the mu opioid and killing the pain chemically. They can unfortunately also block the breathing by attaching to pathway associated with respiration. Researchers developed this drug by finding a separate compound that stops pain but not breathing. While this initially was not  nearly enough strength to bind as morphine, modifying this compound slightly expanded its painkilling property 1000 fold. This new drug is definitely still in its beta phase, and may prove to be just as addicting as morphine. If this new drug can be developed, it can close an entire branch of drug-related deaths.

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