Kratom Seems Safe for Pain, Anxiety, Opioid Withdrawal

We know that, Mitragyna speciosa (commonly known as kratom is a tropical evergreen tree in the coffee family native to Southeast Asia. It is indigenous to Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, and Papua New Guinea, where it has been used in traditional medicines since at least the nineteenth century. Kratom has opioid properties and some stimulant-like effects.

Kratom is used for symptoms of pain, anxiety, depression, and opioid withdrawal, and serious adverse events are uncommon, according to a the results of a survey published online Feb. 3 in Drug and Alcohol Dependence.

Albert Garcia-Romeu, Ph.D., from the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore, and colleagues conducted a cross-sectional online survey in 2017 involving 2,798 kratom users.

The researchers found that kratom was mainly taken orally in doses of 1 to 3 g (49 percent) and was most commonly used daily (59 percent). Kratom was used for pain, anxiety, and depression (91, 67, and 65 percent, respectively); effectiveness was highly rated. Overall, 41 percent (1,144 individuals) used kratom to stop or reduce prescription or illicit opioid use, with reports of decreased opioid withdrawal and craving in relation to use; continuous abstinence from opioids for more than one year was attributed to kratom use by 411 individuals. Adverse effects of kratom were reported by about one-third of respondents; these adverse effects were mainly rated as mild in severity and lasted ≤24 hours. Only 0.6 percent of participants sought treatment for adverse events. Two percent of participants met criteria for past-year moderate or severe kratom-related substance use disorder.

"Although our findings show kratom to be relatively safe according to these self-reports, unregulated medicinal supplements raise concerns with respect to contamination or higher doses of the active chemicals, which could increase negative side effects and harmful responses," Garcia-Romeu said in a statement.

Kratom Seems Safe for Pain, Anxiety, Opioid Withdrawal 

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0376871620300144

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mitragyna_speciosa

Novel compound provides safe, effective pain relief with zero abuse potential in animal model

Since the isolation of morphine from opium in the 19th century, scientists have hoped to find a potent opioid analgesic that isn't addictive and doesn't cause respiratory arrest with increased doses.

Now scientists at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center report that in an animal model a novel pain-killing compound, BU08028, is not addictive and does not have adverse respiratory side effects like other opioids. The research findings are published in the Aug. 29 online edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

"Based on our research, this compound has almost zero abuse potential and provides safe and effective pain relief," said Mei-Chuan Ko, Ph.D., professor of physiology and pharmacology at Wake Forest Baptist and lead author of the study. "This is a breakthrough for opioid medicinal chemistry that we hope in the future will translate into new and safer, non-addictive pain medications."

Pain, a symptom of numerous clinical disorders, afflicts millions of people worldwide. Despite the remarkable advances in the identification of novel targets as potential analgesics in the last decade, including nociceptin-orphanin FQ peptide (NOP) receptor, mu opioid peptide (MOP) receptor agonists remain the most widely used drugs for pain management even though they are addictive and have a high mortality rate caused by respiratory arrest, Ko said.

This study, which was conducted in 12 non-human primates, targeted a combination of classical (MOP) and non-classical (NOP) opioid receptors. The researchers examined behavioral, physiological and pharmacologic factors and demonstrated that BU08028 blocked the detection of pain without the side effects of respiratory depression, itching or adverse cardiovascular events.

In addition, the study showed pain relief lasted up to 30 hours and repeated administration did not cause physical dependence.

"To our knowledge, this is the only opioid-related analgesic with such a long duration of action in non-human primates," Ko said. "We will investigate whether other NOP/Mop receptor-related compounds have similar safety and tolerability profiles like BU08028, and initiate investigational new drug-enabling studies for one of the compounds for FDA's approval."

Ref : http://www.wakehealth.edu/Search/Results.aspx?st=BU08028&tn=12&sfp=88882

Novel compound provides safe, effective pain relief with zero abuse potential in animal model

Mycophenolate mofetil drug seems safe, effective in treating autoimmune hepatitis

New research indicates that mycophenolate mofetil, a drug that is usually used to prevent rejection after kidney, heart or liver transplant, seems safe and effective in treating autoimmune hepatitis (AIH), a serious chronic liver disease that mainly affects women. 

Treatment for AIH is usually based on steroids, which can have very serious side effects when taken long term either alone or in combination with the immunosuppressive drug azathioprine. In this latest real-world study, nearly 94% of patients had an initial complete response to mycophenolate mofetil mostly within 3 months of treatment. A total of 78 of 109 patients (72%) had a complete response on-treatment, and 61 of 78 (78%) maintained remission off steroids. Most importantly, mycophenolate mofetil as front-line treatment for AIH not only accomplished high rates of on-treatment response, but also showed the highest rates of maintenance of complete remission after complete drug withdrawal (75% of patients) ever published, for a median of 2 years.

"As relapse after drug withdrawal in AIH patients is almost universal with conventional therapy, mycophenolate mofetil seems a reasonable, safe, and important alternative first-line treatment of AIH that should seriously and urgently be considered in the future," said Dr. George Dalekos, senior author of the Alimentary Pharmacology & Therapeutics study.

Mycophenolate mofetil drug seems safe, effective in treating autoimmune hepatitis: New research indicates that mycophenolate mofetil, a drug that is usually used to prevent rejection after kidney, heart or liver transplant, seems safe and effective in treating autoimmune hepatitis (AIH), a serious chronic liver disease that mainly affects women.