The main cause of opioid overdose is respiratory suppression, but researchers have identified a compound that mimics commonly used drugs’ painkilling effects and lacks that lethal characteristic. The compound could one day help reduce the nearly 30,000 drug overdose deaths from respiratory suppression that occur annually in the United States, they argued. To set about identifying a new drug candidate, researchers studied two related chemical reactions, or molecular pathways: one that’s involved with analgesia and one responsible for respiratory suppression. Subsequent research of mice revealed the compound relieved pain as successfully as that of morphine but did not cause respiratory suppression. Study authors validated the efficacy of the compound when they saw PZM21 had no effect on mice bioengineered to lack the opioid receptor in question.

Source: Fox News August 17, 2016 18:11 UTC