Eli Lilly conducted human trials of a drug to treat osteoarthritis pain, which found the drug lacked efficacy. Researchers at the Linda and Jack Gill Center for Biomolecular Science at Indiana University in Bloomington, however, have found the compound blocks neuropathic pain and decreases signs of opioid dependence, ScienceDaily reports.
Here are six things to know.
1. The drug's efficacy in treating non-OA pain had not been tested before, but was previously established to be safe in humans. The researchers chose to explore the failed osteoarthritis drug because they found that CB2 cannabinoid agonist LY2828360 acted in a unique way upon a target in the body known to play a role in pain relief.
2. According to the CDC, more than 64,000 Americans died from drug overdoses in 2016, a figure that includes deaths from illicit drugs and prescription opioids. To address this public health concern, IU launched the Responding to the Addictions Crisis Grand Challenge initiative to invest $50 million in preventing and reducing addictions in Indiana.
3. Researchers administered the LY2828360 and the opioid morphine to male mice with neuropathic pain. Morphine reduced the pain initially, but the mice soon developed a tolerance to its effects.
4. When a low dose of the experimental drug was combined with morphine, however, the mice did not become tolerant to morphine. They did not become tolerant to morphine even after LY2828360 was discontinued. The researchers also found the experimental drug could produce sustained pain relief on its own at higher doses.
5. In a different experiment, mice were given either morphine alone or morphine and the experimental drug. Then they were treated with naloxone, which blocks the effect of opioids and induces opioid withdrawal symptoms. The experimental drug decreased the severity of the withdrawal symptoms, according to the researchers.
6. The researchers suggest the experimental drug could be used in combination with opioids in order to prevent tolerance, to enable pain treatment with fewer side effects, or as a way to wean opioid-tolerant individuals off the drugs.
Here is the study in Molecular Pharmacology.
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