72°
University of Houston (UH) researchers are touting a recently developed vaccine they say is a potential “game changer” in battling the opioid epidemic, according to a school-issued press release.
According to the release, the vaccine has the ability to stop the dangerous synthetic opioid fentanyl from entering the brain, preventing the drug from producing a “high.”
UH said that the researchers’ findings were published in the journal "Pharmaceutic."
The discovery is purportedly timely as fentanyl overdoses claim more than 150 lives on a daily basis, per the release.
“We believe these findings could have a significant impact on a very serious problem plaguing society for years – opioid misuse,” Dr. Colin Haile with UH’s Drug Discovery Institute said in the release. “Our vaccine is able to generate anti-fentanyl antibodies that bind to the consumed fentanyl and prevent it from entering the brain, allowing it to be eliminated out of the body via the kidneys.”
The release said that the vaccine was used on rats in lab studies, with the test subjects presenting no adverse side effects.
A clinical-grade vaccine will hit the assembly line in the coming months and clinical trials for humans are in the works as well, the university said.
According to the release, fentanyl is rendered even more dangerous when it’s combined with illegal street drugs such as cocaine and methamphetamine.
Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) head Anne Milgram said that fentanyl “is the single deadliest drug threat” the U.S. has ever encountered, Houston CBS affiliate KHOU reported.
“Fentanyl is everywhere,” Milgram said. “From large metropolitan areas to rural America, no community is safe from this poison."
According to KHOU, Haile said that the vaccine could prevent first responders from experiencing the worst of the drug when they unknowingly come into contact with it on the job.