Governor Baker and other public officials are using legislation to try and control how and when painkillers are prescribed as the trend of opioid abuse continues to grow in Massachusetts. Though regulating opioids is necessary, it’s also just one part of the solution, according to Russell Herndon, president and CEO of the Cambridge-based Hydra Biosciences.
Hydra recently held a forum to discuss opioid addiction and potential solutions to the crisis. Around 100 clinicians, scientists, patients, advocates, investors, pharmaceutical industry professionals participated, and Herndon was part of a panel of experts (listed below) who highlighted the need for new treatment options for patients with chronic and neuropathic pain.
Herndon tells WGBH Morning Edition host Bob Seay, “one of the things that really isn’t being discussed is innovation – how do we get away from opioids?”
Hydra is developing a drug - currently in phase one clinical trials - that could be an alternative to opioid painkillers and a solution to the problem.
Addiction: What We've Learned
As we learned during the WGBH News series “The New Face of Addiction,” opioid abuse can be difficult to prevent because addiction often begins when doctors prescribe opioid painkillers as part of various treatments.
Solving the problem may seem obvious – to stop opioid abuse, stop prescribing opioids. But when you discuss the addiction problem with doctors, many say they don’t have much choice when it comes to prescribing opioids. Over-the-counter drugs like Tylenol and Advil aren’t addictive, but they also aren’t useful for treating all types of pain. Other drugs, like Cymbalta, can be used to treat pain as well, but they weren’t developed for that purpose, Herndon says: “these compounds only work in about fifty percent of patients, and in those fifty percent of patients, you only see a fifty percent reduction in pain.”
Opioids, on the other hand, are very effective at treating chronic and neuropathic pain, according to Herndon, “but there’s a lot of unintended consequences associated with that.”
Opioids: How They Work
It’s widely understood that people feel pain when neurons from the area of an injury send a message to the brain, which sends the sensation of pain back to the body.
According to Herndon, opioids affect channels within the brain that increase the levels of dopamine and serotonin in the brain. This means that the sensation of pain decreases as it’s interrupted by the sensation of pleasure – but that feeling of pleasure can be addictive.
Innovation: Developing Non-Addictive Drugs
Hydra's researchers think they have found a non-addictive way to alleviate pain. They're looking at specific ion channels – proteins that help control cell activity – called TRPs, which are activated when people come into contact with things that cause pain.
Herndon says that Hydra’s drug is trying to decrease the activity of TRP ion channels, so it “can decrease the potential for the body to sense the pain in the first place.”
And because the drug will work at the site where the pain is occurring, instead of in the brain like opioids do, they won’t be addictive, he says: “We truly believe, based on the biology, that we will see a very significant response in patients.”
Hydra’s drug is currently in phase one clinical trials, and the company hopes to have FDA approval for a second phase of trials by mid-2016.
To listen to the full interview with Russell Herndon and WGBH's Bob Seay, click on the audio link at the top of the page.
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Hydra Biosciences' event, " PAIN: A Conversation" included:
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