Wake Forest School of medicine researchers together with the National Institute on Drug Abuse are striving to combat the country’s opioid crisis and could possibly have developed an analgesic that is harmless and non-addictive in an animal model.

The results of their research were published in a paper in the journal Science Translational Medicine on 29^th of August.

A twofold remedial function of the new chemical combination, named AT-121, inhibits the habit-forming property of opioids and relieves pain in lower animals like morphine.

"In our study, we found AT-121 to be safe and non-addictive, as well as an effective pain medication," said Mei-Chuan Ko, Ph.D., professor of physiology and pharmacology at the School of Medicine, part of Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center.

"In addition, this compound also was effective at blocking abuse potential of prescription opioids, much like buprenorphine does for heroin, so we hope it could be used to treat pain and opioid abuse."

The mu opioid receptor (key factor in the most potent analgesics) and the nociceptin receptor which resists the addictive effects of opioids that target mu, were the key targets of the chemical combination that was being developed and evaluated in the study.

"We developed AT-121 that combines both activities in an appropriate balance in one single molecule, which we think is a better pharmaceutical strategy than to have two drugs to be used in combination," Ko said.

Findings of the study revealed that at an amount 100-times less than morphine, AT-121 was equally effective in relieving pain as an opioid. The minuteness of the dose also diminished the addictive effects of oxycodone, a prescription drug frequently abused.

Side-effects of opioids like itching, lowered respiratory rate, tolerance and dependence were also not observed with AT-121.