Opioid analgesics : in future

The future of Opioid Analgesics

seems to be linked to the study of the Kappa Receptor. The kappa receptor induces analgesia without the dangerous and unwanted side effects that the mu and delta receptors are associated with. However there are not any selectively strong agonists to this receptor as of now.

Another area of research important to the future of opioid analgesics is the study of the endogenous opioid peptides.

Because these peptides are endogenous, on metabolic degradation (unlike opiates) they break down to amino acids. Hence, the metabolites are nontoxic and to not cause kidney and liver damage (6).”

Also, because they are made from amino acid residues, “a large number of analogs can be synthesized from a few basic building blocks and simple modifications may be attempted to develop analogs with a desired biological effect (6).”

The further study of the endogenous opioid peptides seems to be integral to development of new safer drugs.