Calgary research into non-addictive pain medication showing promise

Canadians dealing with chronic pain may have a non-addictive opioid-free pain management option, all thanks to some Calgary research.

“In Canada, on average 21 people die daily because of opioid overdose,” said Dr. Ketul Patel, a postdoctoral researcher in the Faculty of Science at UCalgary. “So our mission is to create safer, more effective, and non-opioid treatment for chronic pain.”

Patel may have just found the solution, developing a new, small, molecule that targets a newly discovered pathway to pain relief, instead of relying on opioid receptors.

It’s being call a ‘major advancement’ and Patel is receiving a national award for outstanding innovation by Mitacs, a national research group with public funding.

“I was super excited, it’s an incredible honour and significant milestone in my career,” Patel said. “It has the potential to help several million people who are suffering from chronic pain.”

One of the most promising elements of the research is that they haven’t found any evidence of drug dependency or buildup of drug tolerance.

People working in mental health and addictions say this research is giving them hope.

“It’s just… I’m beside myself,” said Earl Thiessen, executive director of Oxford House. “This should be — I know they’re just getting into the testing — but this is something that should be celebrated and everybody should be getting on board.

“It’s a way out that isn’t going to have a negative impact on people’s lives.”

He says a lot of people suffering from opioid addiction are first introduced to the powerful painkillers in hospitals.

“I’ve talked to so many people and that’s how it started,” Thiessen explained. “A surgery, a sports injury, and then once you’re hooked, you’re hooked and its so hard to get out and I think this is going to have a huge impact worldwide.”

The next step for Patel’s research is to begin clinical trials.