Enhanced Pain Management Compound
Strong painkillers like morphine are effective but carry serious risks such as addiction and overdose. Tulane researchers are developing a new class of drugs that target the mu-opioid receptor to provide pain relief with fewer side effects.
The following technologies are offered as a “bundle” or can be pursued individually.
- Novel Pain Management Compound
- Enhanced Pain Management Compound
The Problem
Strong painkillers like morphine are effective, but they come with serious risks, including addiction, overdose, and other health problems. Many people avoid using them, even when they are in severe pain. There is an urgent need for safer pain relief options that work just as well but do not carry the same risks, especially for people with chronic conditions.
The Solution
Tulane researchers are creating a new approach that aims to solve a significant challenge by a new class of drugs for the treatment of pain, targeting the mu-opioid receptor (MOR) with reduced side-effects. Activators of MOR are the most effective treatments for moderate to severe acute and chronic pain; however, their use is limited by potentially severe side effects. Tulane’s drugs are peptide analogs of endomorphin that bind to MOR to produce analgesia at least as effectively as morphine but show reduction or absence of several significant side effects. These include abuse liability, tolerance, respiratory depression, and neuroinflammation, where mechanistic differences from morphine have been observed. They also show potential for treating opioid use disorder (OUD). Studies on second generation analogs show effectiveness in multiple pain models with significant reduction of side effects. A third generation shows significantly greater analgesic effects relative to morphine.
The Opportunity
This technology could be used in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industry, particularly in the development of safer pain management therapies. It would appeal to companies focused on non-addictive analgesics, providing an alternative to conventional opioids for treating acute and chronic pain. In addition to clinical pain management, this class of drugs could be valuable in addressing the opioid crisis by offering treatments with lower abuse potential and fewer life-threatening side effects, as well as potential applications in the treatment of opioid use disorder (OUD).
