2024-07-15 17:46:44
Researchers from Germany have discovered a new painkiller. What’s special about it is that it seems to be as effective as opioids – but without the potential for addiction.
Could a marine fungus be the solution to the global opioid crisis? Researchers at Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (JGU) seem to have stumbled upon a promising active ingredient. This could bring a long-awaited alternative to dangerous and addictive opioids into focus – and from the sea, of all places.
Opioids such as morphine are among the most powerful painkillers available and are often indispensable for patients in the final stages of serious illnesses. But they are not without danger: if used improperly, they can lead to addiction and drastic side effects such as respiratory arrest. In the USA, the over-prescription of opioids for minor ailments has led to a real crisis – almost 645,000 people died there from an overdose between 1999 and 2021.
The problem has also reached Germany – opioids are often used here to cut heroin. The consequences are devastating: while heroin only becomes fatal at a dose of 200 milligrams, two milligrams of the opioid fentanyl are enough. More than 1,000 people died in Germany in 2022 from the use of opioids.
Given these alarming figures, there is an urgent need for safer painkillers. This is where the Mainz researchers come in.
As part of their study, they used a chemical database with more than 40,000 natural products to search for alternative active ingredients. After complex calculations and analyses, they were able to identify a substance that could be suitable as a painkiller: Aniquinazolin B, obtained from the marine fungus Aspergillus nidulans.
They found that it met all the criteria: It binds well to the corresponding pain receptors and has the necessary properties of a drug. “Our research suggests that this active ingredient could have a similar effect to opioids, but with significantly fewer side effects,” summarizes study author Roxana Damiescu in a press release from the university. This discovery could be an important step in combating the opioid crisis.