NIH-Wissenschaftler entdecken wirksames neues Opioid, das Schmerzen ohne gefährliche Nebenwirkungen lindert

I know how this story ends.

Here we go again…

That would be great. I can’t take normal painkillers but opioids dont give me asthma, they just fuck me up in other ways!

Can’t wait for a new generation of zombies

OxyContin 2: Addiction Boogaloo

That’s dope!

Not this time, Sacklers.

*Bayer enters the chat…*

Fewer peaks and valleys…

> without **known** side effects

If we’ve learned anything about opioids over the last 100 years (which, clearly we haven’t) it’s that a new opioid  that seems safe is likely to have new patterns of abuse that we discover later.

“The animals did self-administer DFNZ, showing that it has some rewarding effects.

However, when DFNZ was replaced with saline, the animals quickly stopped seeking it. This rapid change differs from what is seen with drugs such as heroin, morphine, and fentanyl, where animals often continue drug seeking even after the drug is no longer available.”

YIKES. Or maybe Morphine/Heroin/etc, tastes similar to salt for rats, but DFNZ tastes noticeably different? Could there be other “lurking” variables why rats stop pressing the button? Is this how they are concluding that it won’t be habit-forming???

Good to know there are still a few working.

Uh huh sure sure sure

The cynicism is understandable but the science so far is looking solid.

1. **This is NIH research, not industry.** There’s no Sackler or Purdue behind this. The lead researcher is Michael Michaelides at NIDA. The OxyContin parallels people keep drawing don’t apply to the funding or motivation structure here.
2. **The mechanism is genuinely different from anything we’ve seen.** DFNZ increases slow-acting dopamine in the reward circuitry rather than producing the rapid dopamine bursts that create the drug-cue associations driving craving and relapse. Explains why rats stopped drug-seeking immediately when DFNZ was replaced with saline, which is the opposite of what happens with heroin, morphine, or fentanyl.
3. **Nobody is claiming this is ready for humans.** It’s preclinical. The team is pursuing an IND application. There are many hurdles between „promising rodent data“ and „approved medication.“ The researchers are being transparent about that.
4. **The respiratory depression finding is the real headline.** At therapeutic doses, DFNZ actually produced a moderate sustained increase in brain oxygen rather than depressing respiration. That’s the mechanism that kills people in opioid overdoses, and this compound does the opposite.

The chronic pain voices ( u/front_yard_duck_dad, u/babsley78, u/FreeToasterBaths ) are making a very valid point: There are millions of people living with inadequately treated pain because the pendulum swung so hard after the opioid crisis. Legitimate patients got caught in the crossfire.

* Nature paper: [https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-026-10299-9](https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-026-10299-9)
* NIH press release: [https://www.nih.gov/news-events/news-releases/nih-researchers-discover-pain-relieving-drug-minimal-addictive-properties](https://www.nih.gov/news-events/news-releases/nih-researchers-discover-pain-relieving-drug-minimal-addictive-properties)
* C&EN analysis: [https://cen.acs.org/pharmaceuticals/drug-discovery/new-opioid-painkiller-surprisingly-few/104/web/2026/04](https://cen.acs.org/pharmaceuticals/drug-discovery/new-opioid-painkiller-surprisingly-few/104/web/2026/04)
* ACSH deep dive: [https://www.acsh.org/news/2026/04/02/can-superopioid-treat-pain-without-opioid-baggage-nature-paper-says-maybe-50048](https://www.acsh.org/news/2026/04/02/can-superopioid-treat-pain-without-opioid-baggage-nature-paper-says-maybe-50048)

Overdose still represses respiratory drives? Narcan has the same effect?