Post by Scripps Research

Scripps Research scientists have developed a fentanyl countermeasure that adapts to combat future black-market drugs by teaching the immune system to rapidly neutralize fentanyl and emerging synthetic fentanyl analogs. Led by Kim Janda, the Ely R. Callaway, Jr. Professor of Chemistry, the research suggests the vaccine candidate could work against not only fentanyl itself, but most fentanyl-related “designer drugs”—altered versions of fentanyl made to boost its effects or evade detection. “What this research shows us is that we don’t have to keep playing catch-up with every new synthetic designer drug that emerges,” says Janda. “The conventional wisdom says that to get the immune system to recognize fentanyl, you have to use something that looks like fentanyl. We were doing the opposite,” adds first author Arran Stewart, a research associate in the Janda lab. More: https://ow.ly/CZ8H50ZaIYX