Scientists develop vaccine against fatal prescription opioid overdose
"We saw both blunting of the drug's effects and , remarkably , prevention of drug lethality," said Kim D. Janda, the Ely R. Callaway Jr. Professor of Chemistry and member of the Skaggs Institute for Chemical Biology at TSRI. "The protection against overdose death was unforeseen but clearly of enormous potential clinical benefit." The study was published this week online ahead of print in the journal ACS Chemical Biology . How It Works The new oxy/hydro vaccine takes advantage of the immune system's ability to recognize, seek out and neutralize invaders. Opioids were designed to reach receptors in the brain, causing pain reduction and feelings of euphoria. For their vaccine, the researchers combined a signature opioid structure with a molecule to trigger an immune response. When injected, the vaccine teaches the immune system to bind to the drug molecule and remove it from circulation. The vaccine-derived antibodies were tailored by TSRI scienti...