A new vaccine is being developed to prevent opioid overdoses caused by Fentanyl by blocking the drug’s analgesic effect. Fentanyl is a synthetic opioid that is 50 times stronger than heroin and over 100 times stronger than morphine. While it is used in medicine to treat severe pain, it is also widely abused as a drug, particularly in the United States. Due to its potency, Fentanyl is considered the “deadliest drug threat” by the US Food and Drug Administration, with approximately 150 people dying daily from its illegal use in the US alone.
According to Therese Kosten from the University of Houston, treatment options for Fentanyl addiction are limited, and substitutions and emergency medications are often ineffective. To address this issue, researchers at the University of Houston are developing a vaccine against Fentanyl overdoses. The vaccine is designed to stimulate the production of antibodies that intercept Fentanyl in the bloodstream before it reaches the brain, preventing the drug’s euphoric effects. The vaccine has been successfully tested on male and female mice and rats, with no observed side effects.
The vaccine is highly specific to Fentanyl and does not cross-react with other opioids, meaning that vaccinated individuals can still be treated with other opioids as painkillers. The researchers are currently working on producing sufficient quantities of the vaccine for human trials, which are expected to begin in the coming months. If successful, the vaccine could be a significant step in reducing the number of deaths caused by Fentanyl overdoses.
