Posted by BrittPark on April 16, 2003, at 14:38:52
In reply to Please help with my list of promising future drugs, posted by Shawn. T. on April 13, 2003, at 18:59:16
One class of drug that is missing from your list is opioidergics. I suppose that should not be surprising since no one is trying to develop an opioid as treatment for depression. Opioids have been shown clinically (search medline for tramadol, and buprenorphine and you'll find a couple of studies) and anecdotally to be effective for treating depression. There are several citizens of PB who are being successfully treated with opioids. I'm one of them.
The major problem with opioids for depression, medically not legally, is tolerance. Some people develop tolerance to opioids rapidly and others don't. I take 1 5/500 vicodin daily and it helps with my depression/anxiety. If I were able to take it at a considerably larger dose, and not develop tolerance, I think that it would largely return me to normal functioning.
My point, and I do have one, is that a company called Pain Therapeutics is developing formulations of Morphine and Oxycodone with tiny admixtures of naltrexone (an opioid receptor antagonist). The interesting thing about these formulations is that they have been demonstrated in animals not to induce tolerance. Assuming that the euphoric characteristics (I'm assuming that is why opioids work as ADs) tag along with their analgesic characteristics, these could be breakthrough drugs for TRD. I've written to Pain Therapeutics suggesting that they investigate this possibility. I've received no response.
What might be interesting journalistically is a look into the almost complete absence of research into the opioidergic systems' involvement with affective disorders. I think you'll find that this state of affairs holds not for scientific reasons, but for political.
Thanks for the opportunity to spout off about my pet peeve ;)
Britt Park, PhD (Structural Biology)
poster:BrittPark
thread:219077
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20030411/msgs/219854.html