A new drug could reverse heroin and withdrawal symptoms of morphine

New research shows that an experimental drug originally developed as an antidepressant significantly reversed the acute signs of opioid withdrawal in rats in just three days.

The abuse of opioids such as heroin, morphine and prescription painkillers is a serious health problem worldwide. According to the National Institute for Combating Drug Abuse (NIDA), it is estimated that between 26.4 and 36 million people worldwide are opioid-abusing .

Opioid withdrawal symptoms may range from mild to severe, including anxiety, nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain cramps, diarrhea, muscle pain, sweating, dilated pupil or watery eyes, rapid heart rate, excessive gagging, goose bumps, insomnia, depression or aggression and stay asleep or shake.

"At the present time, research on opioid dependence in Rapastinel is only for rodents, but if the drug continues to be successfully tested, it could move to clinical trials for use in humans

Medications are available to relieve withdrawal symptoms in convalescent patients, but they cause side effects and may sustain the brain changes that led to the addiction, which can lead to relapse before the end of treatment.

"We have found that rapastinel may be a new treatment for opioid addiction because it effectively reduces the signs of withdrawal and produces no negative side effects," said Julia Ferrante, undergraduate student at the university. from Villanova. with Cynthia M. Kuhn, PhD, Professor of Pharmacology and Cancer Biology at Duke University.

The research will be presented at the annual meeting of the American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics at the 2019 Experimental Biology Meeting in Orlando, Florida.

Buprenorphine and methadone, the drugs most commonly used to help people stop using opioids, are problematic because they themselves are opioids and can lead to addiction, unpleasant and sometimes dangerous side effects, and often need to be used for months to prevent relapse. Ketamine, which has been proposed as a non-opioid alternative treatment for opioid withdrawal, also has potential for abuse and may cause hallucinations and other adverse effects.

Rapastinel binds to the same receptor as ketamine, but at a different site, where it has a milder effect.

In this study, researchers modeled opioid dependence in rats and then followed withdrawal signs in groups of rats receiving rapastinel, ketamine or saline. On the third day, rats treated with rapastin had significantly less signs of withdrawal than those treated with ketamine or saline, which had approximately equal amounts of withdrawal signs.

"Currently, research on opioid dependence in Rapastinel is limited to rodents, but if the drug continues to test successfully, it could enter a clinical trial for use at home." man, "added Ferrante.