As the opioid crisis shifted from prescription painkillers toward heroin in 2012, Laura Vaughn began searching for safer ways to treat pain. A compound her team studied, SR-17018, reduced pain in mice without causing the respiratory depression associated with fatal opioid overdoses. The drug later gained attention among people seeking alternatives to addictive opioids, but an urgent decision by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration to classify it as a Schedule I controlled substance has made further research far more difficult.
Early research into SR-17018
Funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse, Vaughn and other scientists reported in 2017 that several compounds could reduce pain in mice without suppressing breathing. Their findings were published in Cell.
Respiratory depression is a major danger of opioid use because it can cause a person to stop breathing and die. SR-17018 appeared particularly promising in the animal studies. Vaughn, senior vice president for research at the University of South Florida Health, said her team has applied for a patent on the compound.
The researchers also found that mice did not develop a high tolerance to SR-17018. In addition, mice that were already dependent on the powerful opioid morphine appeared able to reset their tolerance after taking SR-17018 without experiencing painful withdrawal symptoms.
Interest from people who use opioids
SR-17018 has since moved beyond laboratory research. On Reddit and Discord, people who use drugs have described the compound as a “godsend” that helped them stop using opioids to which they were addicted.
Until recently, SR-17018 was not regulated by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Because it was not a federally controlled substance, it was relatively easy to purchase online. At the same time, Vaughn was trying to begin a human clinical trial, although no such trial had previously been conducted.
There is no clinical evidence that SR-17018 works in humans. Its use by people attempting to taper off opioids therefore remains unsupported by human studies, despite the reports circulating online.
DEA scheduling threatens further research
That situation changed in late August, when the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration urgently classified SR-17018 as a Schedule I controlled substance. The category includes heroin and is defined as having “no currently accepted medical use and a high potential for abuse.”
For Vaughn, the classification could prevent the additional safety research needed before human testing. “It’s really bothersome,” she told WIRED. “At this point, I would like to have it tested for additional safety studies, but I can’t get it manufactured, shipped, or even touched. There’s nothing I can do about it.”
The decision also removes an option for people who hoped to use SR-17018 to wean themselves off opioids, even though the compound has not been shown to work in humans.
A former opioid user’s experience
Jim Bates has been addicted to several opioids, including prescription drugs, heroin and fentanyl, since he was 25. About two years ago, the 53-year-old kitchen manager from Duncan, Oklahoma, became addicted to 7-OH, a concentrated compound in kratom that activates opioid receptors in the brain.
“That shit drove me crazy,” Bates said. He was introduced to 7-OH at a vape store and described the experience this way: “It was like heroin.”
Source: www.wired.com