Opiates won't work
The US military has developed a "vaccine" for heroin addiction
Ksenia Malysheva, Naked Science
Life expectancy in the US has been falling for the second year; heroin and other opiates are to blame. Perhaps a new drug – a "vaccine" against opioid addiction, already tested on mice and rats, will help to stop the steadily growing schedule of deaths from heavy drug overdoses.
Researchers from the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center (WRAIR), working in the HIV Research Program (MHRP), have developed a substance that blocks the action of heroin. The drug has already been tested on animals – laboratory mice and rats.
Once in the body, the "vaccine" releases antibodies that prevent the passage of opioid molecules through the blood-brain barrier. For a drug addict, this means that regardless of the dose received, he does not experience the psychoactive effects of the drug. The vaccine also includes an adjuvant, the Army Liposome Formulation complex, which enhances the immune response to the toxin (in this case, opioid–type drugs).
Several similar "vaccines" have already been developed; the creators of the WRAIR drug have not yet compared the effectiveness of their "vaccine" with others, but the drug turned out to be more effective than the previous development of the same institute and more stable. The stability of the drug will extend the shelf life and facilitate production and storage.
A study published in the Journal of Medicinal Chemistry notes that the drug prevents not only heroin from entering the brain, but also other opioid substances: hydrocodone, oxycodone, hydromorphone, oxymorphone and codeine; it reduces the toxic effect of large doses of heroin, which makes it a good candidate for drugs for therapy and prevention of overdose.
The antibodies of the drug developed by WRAIR do not bind to a number of other opiates: methadone, buprenorphine, tramadol, fentanyl, etc. Fentanyl is one of the strongest drugs in this series, 100 times more addictive and dangerous than heroin, so the fight against fentanyl addiction and overdoses is one of the key directions of such researchers. A "vaccine" against fentanyl has already been created and tested on mice by researchers from the Scripps Research Institute; it has proved effective, but clinical studies on humans have not yet been conducted.
The inability of WRAIR antibodies to bind to methadone and buprenorphine allows them to be used simultaneously with methadone replacement and buprenorphine therapy. Substitution therapy is prohibited in Russia, but in a number of countries it is used to treat drug addiction and gives tangible results. The fact that the antibodies do not bind to naloxone makes it possible not to abandon this drug, which is often used in resuscitation in case of heroin overdose as an antidote to prevent lung collapse.
It may take several years to complete clinical trials of a new "vaccine" and bring the drug to market. Now the creators of the drug are looking for funding; the pharmaceutical company Opiant Pharmaceuticals will continue its development.
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