Color Me Skeptical

As we all know, opioids are a top choice for treating severe pain. The initial relief can be dramatic, but the addiction and abuse consequences are severe. US Department of Health and Human Services estimates there are almost two million Americans addicted to and/or abusing opioids.

For many years, scientists have been researching ways to develop safer forms of effective painkillers. The key is to separate the side effects from the beneficial analgesic relief.

Susan Young, writing in MIT Technology Review, reports on a new product from Nektar Therapeutics that purports to be effective but “boring.” Essentially, this new painkiller will enter the brain too slowly to be abused.

Safety and efficacy tests are ongoing. Although this methodology sounds hopeful, I heard it all before in the late 1990s when these painkillers were first introduced. Unfortunately, chronic abusers spend every waking hour trying to figure out ways to bypass safety measures and therefore intensify “highs.”

So for now…color me skeptical.