A small amount of fentanyl, equivalent to a few grains of sand, can stop a person’s breathing. The synthetic opioid is tasteless, odorless, and invisible when mixed with other substances, making it difficult for users to detect its presence. To combat this, biotech entrepreneur Collin Gage co-founded ARMR Sciences to develop a vaccine against fentanyl.
The goal of the vaccine is to prevent deaths from overdose by neutralizing fentanyl in the bloodstream before it reaches the brain. The experimental vaccine works like any other vaccine, training the body’s immune system to make antibodies that recognize a foreign invader. In this case, the antibodies bind to fentanyl and prevent it from traveling to the brain.
The company is launching a trial to test its vaccine in people for the first time. The Phase 1/2 trial will enroll around 40 healthy adults and evaluate the vaccine’s safety and determine the best dosage. The results of the trial are promising, with the vaccine blocking 92-98% of fentanyl from entering the brain.
While a vaccine like this is not a perfect solution to the opioid epidemic, it could be an additional tool in preventing overdose deaths. “We’re trying to put innovation and new technology behind this problem,” says Gage.
Source: https://www.wired.com/story/a-fentanyl-vaccine-is-about-to-get-its-first-major-test