This New Heroin Vaccine May Offer Addicts a Path to Recovery

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by Eva Hershaw via Seeker

The vaccine, which has been tested on rodents and monkeys, works by triggering antibodies that neutralize heroin's effect on the brain.

Researchers have developed a heroin vaccine that blocks users from feeling the drug’s characteristic high. As the first anti-opioid vaccine to pass preclinical testing, they have hopes that it could provide a path out of dependency for recovering heroin addicts.

“We’ve optimized a vaccine against heroin,” said Kim Janda, a professor in the chemistry and immunology department at The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) and a senior member of the research team. “Our hope is that this can be used in the fight against the opioid epidemic.”

The vaccine, which has proven effective in trials on rodents and monkeys, works by mimicking the unique structure of the heroin molecule and its key metabolite, 6-acetylmorphine. The vaccine, administered by way of a carrier protein, trains the body to produce antibodies that intersect and neutralize heroin, preventing it from reaching the brain and having an effect. In trials, the vaccine reduced the potency of heroin by more than 15 fold.

Authors on the research, published in the Journal of the American Chemical Society, hope that the vaccine could eliminate the motivation for relapse among recovering heroin addicts. Current pharmacological remedies for heroin addiction have shown some effectiveness, but in-patient rehab remains costly, treatments have shown adverse side effects, and the potential for relapse remains.

The announcement comes as opioid abuse in the United States reaches epidemic levels. Between 2005 and 2015, according to the study, the number of people over the age of 12 that had used heroin in the country doubled, from 379,000 to 828,000. Heroin use in the country is at a 20-year high, according to the UN Office on Drugs and Crime. Other data suggest drug overdoses are now the leading cause of death among Americans under 50 years of age.

The anti-heroin vaccine being developed by TSRI is the first to show effectiveness in non-human primates, in addition to rodents, a fact that researchers in the lab believe make it more likely to succeed in human applications.

“We wanted to see if a lot of the research we had done in rodents correlated, and we saw a good correlation,” Janda said. “Working with non-human primates, that’s as close as you’re going to get to humans.”

In trials on rhesus monkeys, Janda and his team found that the four primates given three doses of the vaccine showed an effective immune response. Antibodies deployed by the body were able to neutralize varying doses of heroin. While the effect was strongest in the month following vaccination, it proved to be durable, with some effect seen for as many as eight months after the treatment.

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[Jabberwocky]

Somehow I doubt this would do much for cravings and the bulk of issues people who use heroin might struggle with. That, and I can't help but wonder how this kind of thing would affect people who need to take other opioids for some reason.

Actually, there are so many questions... Honestly I find stuff like this kinda scary, but it is fascinating. Still, I'm not holding my breath.

 

[tremours]

it sounds like antabuse for opiates, its not any good if you want to use your going to

 

['medicine cabinet']

How would it affect endorphins? And is it only w heroin that it works? I remember reading about a coke or meth vaccine centered on the same principal. Leave it to science to create a drug to stop using another drug.

 

[Crankinit]

First thought is that it's a bandaid fix that does nothing for the underlying problems which lead to addiction.

Second thought is that the addict will just resort to using other opioids. Or hell, keep using street "heroin," given how much of it is cut with fentanyl or fent analogues in the US now.

Third thought is that even if they stop using opioids, they'll likely just start drinking heavily or indulging in other addictive behavior.

tldr: I don't see what this achieves that a naltrexone implant can't do.

There's also the thorny issue of potential side effects. I'd be extremely wary of letting anyone administer something like this to me.

 

[Jabberwocky]

How would it affect endorphins? And is it only w heroin that it works? I remember reading about a coke or meth vaccine centered on the same principal. Leave it to science to create a drug to stop using another drug.

The idea of creating a "vaccine" that basically turns the body's immune system against whatever drug the vaccine is supposed to target has been around for at least a decade - as you said notably with the "cocaine vaccine."

I feel like using the word vaccine for something like this is incredibly misleading. It might technically operate like a vaccine (essentially manipulating the body's immune system), but it will have far different results than a vaccine targeting some purely biological/virological condition (as opposed to the "biopsychosocial" illness of addiction). The pathologizing of substance use disorder/addiction is highly problematic, because a substance use disorder isn't like a bacteria or virus.

 

[someguyoz]

it sounds like antabuse for opiates, its not any good if you want to use your going to

Yeah but obviously this is going to be for those who ​don't​ want to use, but have trouble stopping.

 

[Jekyl Anhydride]

It supposedly decreases Heroin by 15 fold. So what complications might arise from someone trying to defeat the blockade with a 3 gram shot. I imagine plenty of people will find out.

 

[busted.produk]

It supposedly decreases Heroin by 15 fold. So what complications might arise from someone trying to defeat the blockade with a 3 gram shot. I imagine plenty of people will find out.

Right!
No euphoria but all the respritory depression....

 

[Jekyl Anhydride]

^
I suppose it will be a wait and see as to what happens when a determined addict goes to war against their own immune system and besides the central effects there's all the peripheral mu receptors like the myenteric plexus. Will the immune response also trigger inflammation like cotton fever ? I guess better living through chemistry can be a double edged sword.

 

[busted.produk]

^^ good point(about immune response).
But yeah, definitely a "wait and see" situation. Who knows if it will even make it to the public any time soon or at all for that matter.
I could easily envision a scenario(in a dystopian near-future devoid of human rights) of someone switching to fent and analogues because they got this vaccine(without consent or with reluctant consent say, in exchange for reduced jail time) but still wanted to get high....granted, i read a lot of sci-fi....Ha!