http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-08-17/this-drug-could-end-america-s-painkiller-epidemic
The new molecule targets the brain-mediated emotional component of pain. This allows it to kill pain just as well as morphine does, without the side effects of respiratory suppression and dopamine-driven addiction in the brain. (Regular painkillers target both the brain-mediated and reflexive response aspects of pain.) The new drug also causes less constipation and doesn’t affect spinal cord reflexive responses as traditional narcotics do, according to the study. The potential difference in addiction was shown in experiments involving mice…
Manglik estimates that it will take multiple years for the compound to be tested in humans, noting the importance of such trials to learn more about PZM21’s addictive properties and safety. “The real experiment for a lot of these things is going to have to happen in humans,” he said, adding that addiction is “really a human disease.” …
This drug kills pain as well as morphine does? Don’t be fooled…
“brain-mediated emotional component of pain”
I may not be a neurologist, but I can read between the lines. Researchers are trying to go around the main areas of the brain that deal with pain to target the area that deals with the “emotional component” of pain. It’s my understanding that this is how antidepressants can alleviate pain, along with other drugs prescribed off-label for pain, like anticonvulsants and antipsychotics. It’s also similar to drugs used to treat addiction.
On the Wikipedia page for this new drug (PZM21) under “See Also,” I found this (which looks like the same drug):
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cebranopadol
Notably, it has also been found to be more potent in models of chronic neuropathic pain than acute nociceptive pain…
As an agonist of the κ-opioid receptor, cebranopadol may have the capacity to produce psychotomimetic effects and other adverse reactions at sufficiently high doses, a property which could potentially limit its practical clinical dosage range…
Google definition: A drug with psychotomimetic actions mimics the symptoms of psychosis, including delusions and/or delirium, as opposed to just hallucinations…
And on the Wikipedia page for cebranopadol, I found a link to norbuprenorphine.
I wish the research community was on the right path in the study of pain, but as far as I’m concerned, they’re following paths dictated by the funding they receive, which is anti-opioid. (In other words, we’re fucked.)
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK57254/
(2010) Translational Pain Research: From Mouse to Man.
Chapter 15, Human Brain Imaging Studies of Chronic Pain
The advent of non-invasive human brain imaging technologies provided the opportunity for direct examination of the human brain. This occurred about 15 years ago with the related expectation that we were at the threshold of a revolution in our understanding of chronic pain. This expectation remains largely unfulfilled, although much has been published in the topic. Here we concentrate mainly on our own work in the topic, arguing in general that the subject of brain mechanisms of chronic pain remains in its infancy mainly because of a heavy emphasis in the field on studying nociception rather than chronicity of pain…