NAXOLONE
Morphine is a type of narcotic that is considered a powerful painkiller. However, alongside its quality comes a potentially serious side effect which makes this medication unacceptable for regular utilisation. Nowadays, medics practice the usage of morphine to soothe the pain of injured soldiers because there are no any other medications that are more effective than morphine. Before medics inject morphine to the wounded soldiers, they need to watch out in case the morphine decreases blood pressure and breathing to unstable levels. However, this may all change with a DARPA-backed drug that has successfully controlled morphine delivery when it recognises low blood oxygen levels.
Photo By : Deusen, R. (2015). [image] Available at: http://topnews.ae/content/215532-veteran-encourages-his-counterparts-through-video-message-seek-help-ptsd [Accessed 5 Nov. 2015].
The primary weakness of morphine would be the possibility of drug addiction, and the impact of morphine withdrawal is also another negative perspective to be considered. Morphine is a questionable issue among the medical profession because they believe that the cons exceed the pros and decline to prescribe the medication to their patients. Doctor would use morphine for their patients only after trying other medications that have little or no success. Morphine is known to produce a tranquil state which can help the soldiers who are suffering from intense pain. However, for those who stop taking morphine to relieve pain, they might face some symptoms for example headache, vomiting, respiratory distress, increase heart rate etc.
Photo By : Addiction Blog, (2015). Long term effects of morphine on the body (INFOGRAPHIC). [image] Available at: http://addictionblog.org/tag/morphine/ [Accessed 3 Nov. 2015].
This new drug consists of morphine and its “antidote”, Naxolone, both of which are carried by nanotech particles. When oxygen levels in the blood drops too low, Naxolone gets activated to supress the Morphine in a self-regulating feedback mechanism. When oxygen blood returns to normal levels, Naxolone then becomes inactive, allowing higher levels of morphine to be available. This drug could be beneficial as medics, and even individual soldiers can use auto-injectors to administer morphine, while being a safer method for pain relief as there aren’t any monitoring devices as found in hospitals on the battlefield. Naxolone can now be activated and deactivated when needed by a compound found by researchers from the University of Michigan. Furthermore, laboratory tests were carried out on human plasma and this drug successfully passed.
Photo By : DAILY MAIL REPORTER, (2011). Fatal dose. [image] Available at: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2068652/Woman-killed-grandmother-lacing-Wendys-chilli-morphine.html [Accessed 5 Nov. 2015].
Although this might be a meaningful day in field of science, which can benefit soldiers and also civilian paramedics at accident sites etc., we must not ignore the fact that this new drug still contains morphine, and its side effects. We must always think twice before injecting morphine into our body as morphine can only help us for a short period of time. This new drug might prove to be a breakthrough, but further research still has to be done in order to develop other drugs that can ease pain, without any significant side effects and long term repercussions, which can also help medicine take a huge step forward.
Hsu, J. (2009). Self-Regulated Morphine Delivery For Wounded War fighters. [Online] Available from: http://www.popsci.com/military-aviation-amp-space/article/2009-09/self-regulated-morphine-delivery-wounded-warfighters. [Accessed: 5th November 2015]
Written by: Chai Yi Sheuan
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Publish date: 5.11.2015 20:30
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