Discovery of Fentanyl Vaccine Called “Game Changer” with Some Sceptical
A paper published by a team at the University of Houston outlines the discovery of a vaccine that kills the effects of the synthetic opioid fentanyl. Published in the journal Pharmaceutics, the preclinical vaccine has shown success in blocking fentanyl-induced effects in rats.
Furthermore, no adverse side effects were reported by the study. The UH team have begun to plan the manufacture of clinical batches of the vaccine with a view toward conducting in human trials in the near future.
The vaccine produces a type of antibody that binds to fentanyl molecules and blocks it from entering the brain, killing the drug’s ‘high’. Therese Kosten, a Professor of Psychology at UH and lead author on the study called this a “game changer.”
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“We believe these findings could have a significant impact on a very serious problem plaguing society for years – opioid misuse,” said Colin Haile, the leader of the research team, Research Associate Professor and founding member of the UH Drug Discovery Institute.
Opioid abuse and misuse are an epidemic in the United States that kills tens-of-thousands each year. Synthetic opioids like fentanyl, a drug 30 to 50 times more potent than heroin, are major contributing factors to the epidemic with over 150 people in the US dying per day from overdoses.
However, the development of a fentanyl vaccine has also experienced some pushback. Ryan Marino, medical director of toxicology and addiction medicine at University Hospitals Cleveland Medical Center, points to the opioid agonist naltrexone as the tried-and-tested antidote to opioid overdose.
Marino would rather see better access to ‘blockers’ like naltrexone and other harm reduction efforts to combat the opioid crisis. Marino welcomed new treatment options but criticised the vaccine as a “moon shoot.”
Harm reduction measures seek to encourage safer use of illicit substances rather than prevent their use outright. “We already have solutions that remain inappropriately limited for lack of resources,” Marino tweeted.
Claire Zagorski, a Graduate Research Assistant at University of Texas College of Pharmacy, expressed concerns that people with addiction issues could be legally mandated to take the vaccine.
“Any time treatment is mandated and people are coerced into receiving treatment for substance use, it tends to work really, really poorly because that's a terrible place to start for any kind of behavioral modification,” she told Vice.
Kosten said that “fentanyl use and overdose is a particular treatment challenge that is not adequately addressed with current medications because of its pharmacodynamics and managing acute overdose with the short-acting naloxone is not appropriately effective as multiple doses of naloxone are often needed to reverse fentanyl’s fatal effects.”
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