TITLE:
“New-Look” Opioids: Biased Ligands
AUTHORS:
Joseph V. Pergolizzi, Michael H. Ossipov, Robert Taylor, Robert B. Raffa
KEYWORDS:
Pain, Analgesic Drugs, Opioids, G Protein-Coupled Receptors, Biased Ligands
JOURNAL NAME:
Pharmacology & Pharmacy,
Vol.9 No.7,
July
18,
2018
ABSTRACT: Between
the illicit use of opioids
and attendant overdoses, and accidental overdoses with prescribed drugs, overuse
of opioids has become a serious problem. At the same time, finding that fine balance
between minimizing the risk of opioid misuse and abuse while at the same time providing
access to treatment for patients who need pain control presents an ongoing challenge.
Efforts to discover and develop better agents have led to what we term “new-look” opioids. We summarize here
one such approach—known as biased ligands. By targeting a subset of GPCR signal transduction, this
approach attempts to increase the separation between therapeutic and adverse effects.