For some pharmaceutical researchers, the quest to develop an effective yet non-addictive painkiller is the equivalent of the search for the Holy Grail. One of the most promising, recent developments in this category is a synthetic compound known as UKH-1114, discovered by a team of scientists at the University of Texas at Austin. Chemists Stephen Martin and James Sahn say the compound is a powerful pain reliever that acts on a previously unknown pain pathway. UKH-1114 is as effective at relieving neuropathic pain in injured mice as a drug widely used for pain relief called gabapentin, but it works at a much lower dose, with longer duration of action, according to the researchers. The new drug won't be on the market anytime soon, since the process of demonstrating that any new drug is safe, effective and non-addictive in humans typically takes years. But the discovery could provide an important tool in addressing one of today’s biggest public health challenges: the opioid abuse epidemic. Pathway to addiction Nearly a third of Americans suffer from chronic pain, yet the most effective pain relievers —opioids — are addictive and often require increased dosing to maintain efficacy. According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, about 2 million people in the U.S. suffer from addiction to prescription opioid pain relievers. Some of the alternatives to opioids already on the market have their own drawbacks — for example, gabapentin (sold as Neurontin) can cause cognitive impairment in certain individuals. “This opens the door to having a new treatment for neuropathic pain that is not an opioid,” said Martin, a professor and the M. June and J. Virgil Waggoner Regents Chair in Chemistry. “And that has huge implications.” Scientists search for the ‘Holy Grail’
The pain drug they found binds to a receptor on cells throughout the central nervous system called the sigma 2 receptor. Although it was discovered 26 years ago, scientists still did not know what sigma 2 did until the recent breakthrough. "These receptors that we stumbled into really were receptors that weren't a subject of great interest in the pharmaceutical industry, we decided better than to compete with the pharmaceutical industry, we might play on the sidelines where they didn't have a keen interest," Martin said.
-48-
Made with FlippingBook - Online Brochure Maker