Scientists have reportedly developed a vaccine that could potentially block the ability of synthetic opioid fentanyl from entering the brain and eliminate its deadly effects.
The findings by the researchers at the University of Houston which were published in the journal Pharmaceutics have been called a "game changer" at a time when America is reeling under one of its worst opioid crises.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than 71,000 people died of a fentanyl overdose last year, while the total number of deaths due to drug abuse stood over 100,000.
The synthetic opioid is nearly 50 times stronger than heroin and a dose of only two milligrams could be fatal depending on the person's size. It is smuggled into the US by Mexican drug cartels and sold by lacing it with street drugs such as cocaine, methamphetamine, and Xanax.
Colin Haile, a research associate professor and the study's lead author, said the vaccine is able to generate anti-fentanyl antibodies that bind to the consumed opioid and prevent it from entering the brain and pushing it out of the body via the kidneys.
The vaccine thus prevents a person from feeling the "euphoric effects" or the fentanyl high.
It contains an adjuvant derived from E coli called dmLT which boosts the immune system's response to vaccines, increasing their effectiveness.
Mr Haile said that the antibodies were specific to fentanyl and the derivative did not cross-react with other opioids such as morphine, which allows a person vaccinated for fentanyl to seek treatment for other opioids.
The “preclinical results demonstrate efficacy in neutralizing fentanyl’s effects and warrant further development as a potential therapeutic for opioid use disorder and overdose in humans”, the study said.
The clinical studies on the vaccine did not cause adverse side effects in the immunised rats involved, it said.
The team will manufacture clinical-grade vaccines with clinical trials in humans in the coming months and expects “minimal side effects” as two of the components in the vaccine are already in “other vaccines on the market”.
Meanwhile, The FDA is investigating reports that animal tranquilizers — colloquially called “tranq” — are being mixed with heroin and fentanyl with potentially fatal results.
