This Drug Could End America’s Painkiller Epidemic

[Purveyor]

If successful in human testing, PZM21 may curtail the scourge of narcotic addiction and overdose.

By Amrith Ramkumar
August 17, 2016 — 1:00 PM EDT

So far, the fight against America’s opioid crisis has focused on treating addiction and curbing abuse. In February, President Barack Obama asked Congress for $1.1 billion to fund health care for addicts, and last month Congress allocated $181 million in grants for state programs.

But help could be on the way from scientists—help that could radically alter the American landscape of painkiller addiction and untimely death.

U.S. and German researchers have developed a pain-relieving compound, chemically unrelated to current opioids, that doesn't interfere with breathing—the main cause of prescription painkiller fatalities. The researchers introduced the compound, called PZM21, in a study published on Wednesday in Nature.

The drug's development, funded by the U.S. National Institutes of Health, comes at a time when the number of Americans who die each year because of overdoses (more than 47,000) has exceeded the number killed in car accidents. About 28,000 of those overdoses involved opioids, four times more than occurred in 1999, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. More than half involved prescription drugs.

more...

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-08-17/this-drug-could-end-america-s-painkiller-epidemic

[whatthehey]

1. Cool. However unless it's completely addiction free

The puritan posse who think agony is better than dependency will still stop it being used properly.

Now I understand, in a lay way, the idea that addiction has biochemical, psychological and intellectual components, but I cannot imagine a truly meaningful painkiller that can avoid the addictive part of all of them. Who but a masochist would not willingly choose to be free of even normal chronic pain from wear and tear given the choice with low/no risk? We need to very carefully fence around the physiological definition of addiction or the Mother Teresa wannabes who think pain is good for us will pretend seeking relief from it is de facto addiction.

[WheelWalker]

2. There are no magic bullets...

So maybe breathing isn't suppressed with this one; but in 12% of those studied, their nose falls into their soup and they get a black hairy tongue.

[LakeArenal]

3. I bet cost will be prohibitive..

People with real pain pay the price of those who abuse opioids. I can't get a good painkiller, even if I promised to pick up one at a time at the doctor's office when I really need it. It's crazy.

[Warpy]

4. I'll also bet there will be unforeseen side effects

The COX-2 inhibitors Celebrex and Vioxx looked like non opiate godsends at first, completely blocking the cascade of chemical reactions that cause inflammatory pain. After they'd been out for a while, people started to drop dead of heart disease faster than they were supposed to. Vioxx was the worst and was withdrawn. Celebrex is still on the market but with a stiff warning to use with caution. They were great drugs, the only ones I ever knew that could knock out a toothache. They just had some unfortunate and unforeseen side effects.

So it is with occasional new, breakthrough drugs. Sometimes second generation drugs are better, sometimes worse.

[Crunchy Frog]

5. Maybe that's why the DEA has just moved to criminalize kratom.

Need to protect big pharma.