At least three groups of US researchers are working on vaccines to prevent opioid overdose, writes nbcnews.com.
The development of these sera is in its infancy. This week, the sixth person received a dose of such a vaccine in a study conducted at Columbia University, writes News.ro.
The study – the first to test the safety and efficacy of an opioid overdose vaccine in humans – is led by Sandra Comer, a professor of neurobiology in the psychiatry department at Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons at Columbia University, and Marco Pravetoni of the Faculty of Medicine from the University of Minnesota.
All participants are in active phases of addiction and are hosted, during the clinical study, for ten weeks, by Columbia University and a clinic. Researchers should give participants non-lethal doses of opioids, including heroin, after the experimental vaccine to see how it works.
“These are active opioid users,” Comer said. “We do not want to administer to someone who is stable and responds well to treatment, because it could cause a recurrence.”
If it proves to be effective, such a vaccine would be an important life-saving option, explained Dr. Nora Volkow, director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse.
“We need as many effective tools as possible to accelerate the ability to prevent and treat opioid use disorders and overdose.”
Pravetoni mentioned: “The principle is quite simple. It activates the patient’s immune system to develop antibodies against the target “.
It’s the same basic idea as all vaccines – training the immune system to create antibodies that target and destroy a certain intruder.
In the Columbia study, the vaccine targets a certain type of narcotics: oxycodone, an opioid used in painkillers that treat severe pain.
The vaccine does not prevent the need for the drug, but it can serve as an added level of protection for those at risk, Comer said.
The key is to reduce overdose deaths.
“There are many who work on vaccine-like products to treat opioid disorders,” said Sharon Walsh, director of the Center for Drug and Alcohol Research at the University of Kentucky, who described the efforts as “inventive.”
Drug and drug overdoses killed 93,331 people in the United States last year. Opioids accounted for about 70% of this total.
In 2019, the most recent year for which data are available, the National Survey on Drug Use and Health reported that 1.6 million people suffer from opioid use disorders – an addiction that is almost impossible to control, even with professional help.
Most of those who died from such overdoses did not consume for fun, said Dr. Andrew Kolodny, director of Opioid Policy Collaborative Research at Brandeis University in Massachusetts. “If you are addicted to opioids prescribed by your doctor, do not do it because it is fun. You do it because you have to, once you’re caught. “
It is not uncommon for people to reach opioids through prescribed painkillers and develop an addiction to stronger drugs, such as heroin.
According to a National Institute on Drug Abuse survey, more than 10 million people have reported opioid abuse in the past year.
Data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) show that the number of overdose deaths increased by about a third in 2020 compared to 2019. Fentanyl, a synthetic opioid, is one of the main factors. It can be 100 times stronger than morphine and is often added to illicit drugs such as cocaine.
This opioid is the target of another developing vaccine. Dr. Ofer Levy, director of the Precision Vaccines Program at Boston Children’s Hospital, is leading the study, which is also in its infancy. The serum will, in principle, work the same as the one tested in Columbia, but it targets fentanyl. He and his team hope that, in the coming years, they will start studying people.
Researchers at Scripps Research in La Jolla, California, are investigating a potential vaccine that targets both fentanyl and carfentanil. Preliminary data were published in ACS Chemical Biology earlier this year.
Ongoing research has so far found in laboratory mice an increase in antibodies to both opioids and a reduction in the amount of drug that reaches the brain.
Kim Janda, a professor of chemistry and immunology at Scripps, who is leading the study, said his team is focused on another type of inhibitor – a monoclonal antibody, which provides immediate protection.
Even if they prove effective, experts say the vaccines will most likely be combined with other anti-addiction drugs and counseling programs.
–
