Celebrating Scholarship and Creativity Day (2018-)
Document Type
Thesis
Publication Date
5-1-2025
Disciplines
Chemistry
Advisor
Claire Otteson
Abstract
Although opioids are highly effective drugs for pain management, their overuse and addictive nature has caused an opioid epidemic, resulting in many cases of opioid addiction and overdose. There are two current opioid overdose drugs that are FDA approved: naloxone and nalmefene. These drugs have a higher affinity to the active binding pocket on the opioid receptor than opioids do and displace the opioids, preventing any further binding of the opioid and halting the opioid’s effects. However, naloxone is not active long enough to outlast the duration of the opioid and nalmefene causes severe withdrawal symptoms. The development of more effective medications that can be administered in the event of an opioid overdose would significantly help combat opioid overdose deaths. This research aims to develop a small library of molecules based on nalmefene and naloxone scaffolds, in hopes of discovering a new drug that will treat opioid overdose. Each newly developed molecule will be tested through molecular docking software to simulate how tight the molecule will bind to the opioid receptor, as well as in vitro and in vivo testing to further determine effectiveness. This study seeks to address the limitations of opioid overdose treatments and give insight to the key interactions between these drugs and the binding pocket. In addition to developing drugs similar to nalmefene and naloxone, further research toward discovering completely new structures that bind to the opioid receptor could provide a novel approach to treating opioid overdose.
Recommended Citation
Kram, LaRae, "Development of Novel Pharmaceutical for Optimization of Opioid Overdose Treatment" (2025). Celebrating Scholarship and Creativity Day (2018-). 308.
https://digitalcommons.csbsju.edu/ur_cscday/308