WEST LAFAYETTE — Opioid addiction is fast emerging as a national health crisis.
In Tippecanoe County, abuse of opiates has been on the rise, as has the use of non-prescription drugs, like heroin. In its 2016 health assessment, the Tippecanoe County Health Department stated abuse of prescription opioid pills can often lead to heroin use and addiction.
A team of researchers at Purdue University, however, is working on a project that could help stymie this trend.
Addiction to opioid pain killers can begin when a patient is prescribed the medication by a doctor.
Cathy Goldberg has been volunteering at the Surf Center, a non-profit offering addiction recovery services, for over seven years. She said she’s seen this trend too many times to count. Many doctors, she added, don’t see alternatives to chronic pain management, so they fall back on opioid prescriptions.
“And people using this drug know exactly how to get it,” she said. “They know which doctors will prescribe it without any questions.”
A team of researchers at Purdue University have identified a new drug compound that might be able to break this cycle of treatment and addiction.
The compound could be used in the treatment of chronic and neuropathic pain, although not acute pain, said team leader Val Watts, a professor at the Purdue College of Pharmacy.
The compound works by inhibiting the messages sent by adenylyl cyclases enzymes, often responsible for chronic pain.