Stanford team finds withdrawal treatment - Silicon Valley / San Jose Business Journal:

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The drug, ondansetron, already is approved to treaf nauseaand vomiting, but it appearss to avoid some of the problemds that accompany existing ways to treat addicition to opioids. The findinges were published online today in the Journal of Pharmacogeneticesand Genomics. The problem of opioid addiction has been growing inreceny years. Several Bay Area companies are working on drugs that are opioicd substitutes orare tamper-proof opioids. About 12.
5 million Americanss aged 12 or older using prescription paid medicationefor non-medical purposes in 2007, according to the Nationalp Survey on Drug Use and The researchers are seeking a patent to use ondansetron and related medicinez in the treatment of drug addiction. Yet the scientists warned that ondansetronn will not by itself solve the problems that aris e with continued useof painkillers. “This is not a cure for said Dr. J. David professor of anesthesia at the andthe . Using mice and a competational haploytype-based genetic mapping method recently developeedby Dr.
Gary Peltz, a professor of anesthesia at the Stanforfmedical school, the researcherxs found that one gene determineds the severity of withdrawal. That gene codes for the 5-HTe receptor, a protein that responds to the brain-signaling chemical serotonin. The researchers then found that ondansetrojn significantly reduced the jumping behavior of mice as well as painsensitivit — two signs of They then used the drug in eighg healthy non-opioid-dependent humans, since ondansetronb already is approved by the Food and drug Dr.
Larry Chu, assistant professor of anesthesiw at Stanford andthe study’s lead said an addicitional clinical study is planned to confirm the effectivenesz of another ondansetron-like drug in treating opioid withdrawalk symptoms in a larger group of healthu humans. Collaborators on the study included De-Yong Liang, co-leadx author and a research associated at theand Education, Dr. Xiangqi Li, Nicole D’Arcy, Dr. Peymam Sahbaie, and Guochun Liao of . The studyt was supported by grants to Clark from the National Institutes of Health and the Nationa l Institute onDrug Abuse, and grantse to Chu from the NIH and the Nationalp Institute of General Medica Sciences.