Japanese scientists are developing a pain reliever that rivals the efficacy of opioid-based treatments without the risks.
Kyoto University Professor Masatoshi Hagiwara said their drug ADRIANA, being developed as part of international collaborative, had the potential to replace opioids.
Professor Hagiwara said opioids, like morphine, were widely used in medical practice due to their powerful pain-relieving effects.
“However, they carry the risk of serious adverse effects such as respiratory depression and drug dependence,” he said.
Professor Hagiwara said in the United States the opioid OxyContin was once prescribed frequently triggering a surge in the misuse of synthetic opioids such as fentanyl.
“As a result, the number of deaths caused by opioid overdose surpassed 80,000 in 2023, escalating into a national public health crisis now referred to as the ‘opioid crisis’.”
He said ADRIANA was a novel analgesic, or pain reliever, which exerted its effect through an entirely different mechanism.
“If successfully commercialized, ADRIANA would offer a new pain management option that does not rely on opioids, contributing significantly to the reduction of opioid use in clinical settings.”
Professor Hagiwara said the research team was inspired by substances that mimic noradrenaline, which was released in life-threatening situations and activated adrenoceptors to suppress pain.
“However, these pose a high risk of cardiovascular instability.”
He said, in a world-first, the team worked to identify and the selectively block specific adrenoceptors which were the issue.
Professor Hagiwara said after success in administering the compound to mice and conducting non-clinical studies to assess its safety, physician-led clinical trials were conducted at Kyoto University Hospital.
“Both the Phase I trial in healthy volunteers and the Phase II trial in patients with postoperative pain following lung cancer surgery yielded highly promising results.”
He said preparations were now underway for a large-scale Phase II clinical trial in the United States.
“We aim to evaluate the analgesic effects of ADRIANA across various types of pain and ultimately make this treatment accessible to a broader population of patients suffering from chronic pain.”
