A new therapeutic strategy

*Andrea Hohmann, Professor and Gill Chair*

“Despite recent changes in prescribing guidelines, opioids continue to be used in patients at elevated risk for abuse; this highlights the urgent need to identify novel therapeutic strategies to circumvent opioid abuse liability while sparing therapeutic efficacy.”

Indiana University researchers have potentially discovered a new way to block the brain’s reward response to opioids, reducing their potential for addiction without reducing their therapeutic aspects. Their findings were published in the journal Pharmacological Research.

Led by Andrea Hohmann, the researchers collaborated with Northeastern University chemists, who previously developed a drug candidate called GAT358 to treat alcohol addiction, but it had never been tested with opioids. In a preclinical study in rodents, Hohmann’s team demonstrated that they could use GAT358 to reduce the signaling of a protein called cannabinoid receptor 1, or CB1, to successfully block opioid reward while maintaining its therapeutic benefits and avoiding negative side effects. Other drug candidates that directly block CB1 signaling exist, but they have negative side effects including depression, anxiety and suicidality.

Gill Institute for Neuroscience

A new therapeutic strategy

Indiana University researchers have potentially discovered a new way to block the brain’s reward response to opioids, reducing their potential for addiction without reducing their therapeutic aspects. Their findings were published in the journal Pharmacological Research.

Read the full article

A new therapeutic strategy

Indiana University researchers have potentially discovered a new way to block the brain’s reward response to opioids, reducing their potential for addiction without reducing their therapeutic aspects. Their findings were published in the journal Pharmacological Research.

Read the full article

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