Nitazenes, synthetic opioids, could create latest drug crisis as scientists rush to find how to detect them in drug supply

Nitazenes, synthetic opioids, could create latest drug crisis as scientists rush to find how to detect them in drug supply

A new class of potentially deadly synthetic opioids is suddenly appearing around the globe, including in the US, and scientists are rushing to figure out how to detect it in the drug supply.

Within the last month, nitazenes were implicated in four overdose deaths in Manchester, England; they were detected in over 2,500 counterfeit oxycodone pills in Hamilton, Canada; and they were found for the first time in the Netherlands. The US Drug Enforcement Administration has warned about their appearance in Washington DC.

Nitazenes are a class of synthetic opioid first developed in the 1950s but never approved to go to market.

  • LaserEnglish
    2·
    2 months ago

    *In animal models.

    For isotonitazene, which is related to etonitazene, activity in animal models is 1000 times as potent as morphine, while in humans, it’s “only” 60 times as potent, according to Wikipedia.

    The actual numbers for each I didn’t find, but I guess that’s because there were no human studies.

    Isotonitazene is a benzimidazole-derived opioid analgesic drug related to etonitazene, which has been sold as a designer drug. It has only around half the potency of etonitazene in animal studies, but it is likely even less potent in humans as was seen with etonitazene (1000 times as potent as morphine in animal models yet only 60 times as potent in humans).