In a major breakthrough, an international team of scientists has
proven that addiction to morphine and heroin can be blocked,
while at the same time increasing pain relief. The team from the
University of Adelaide and University of Colorado has discovered
the key mechanism in the body’s immune system that amplifies
addiction to opioid drugs. Laboratory studies have shown that
the drug (+)-naloxone will selectively block the immune-
addiction response. The results - which could eventually lead to
new co-formulated drugs that assist patients with severe pain,
as well as helping heroin users to kick the habit - will be
published in the Journal of Neuroscience. “Our studies have
shown conclusively that we can block addiction via the immune
system of the brain, without targeting the brain’s wiring,” says
the lead author of the study, Dr Mark Hutchinson, ARC Research
Fellow in the University of Adelaide’s School of Medical
Sciences. “Both the central nervous system and the immune system
play important roles in creat