A new study has discovered a targeted opioid that could relieve pain from inflammatory bowel disease without causing side effects.
The study, led by researchers at New York University College of Dentistry in New York City and Queen's University in Ontario, found that novel opioid NFEPP can treat inflamed tissue in mice while sparing healthy tissue.
This discovery means patient recovery could bypass the severe and life-threatening side effects of opioids, such as difficulty breathing, constipation, sedation and addiction.
Researchers are now collecting tissue samples from people with inflammatory bowel disease to determine whether their colons, like those in mice, are also acidic environments. They plan to test NFEPP's ability to inhibit pain in the human gut and ultimately conduct clinical trials.