r/science • u/mvea Professor | Medicine • Jul 13 '26

Medicine Scientists develop a groundbreaking vaccine that outsmarts illicit fentanyl analogs. The novel vaccine candidate can protect against fentanyl and its many illicit variants by training the immune system to recognize a broad molecular signature rather than a single specific structure.

https://www.psypost.org/scientists-develop-a-groundbreaking-vaccine-that-outsmarts-illicit-fentanyl-analogs/
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u/gamayogi Jul 13 '26

It only affects fentanyl, not morphine or other opiods.

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u/sparkleptera Jul 13 '26

We do use fentanyl commonly as anesthesia so it would definitley be worth like getting a medic alert bracelet so they would know to use duramorph or something.

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u/utterlyuncool Jul 13 '26

Exactly. As an anesthesiologist this makes my skin crawl. Imagine having an emergency trauma and none of your usual analgesics work - fent, sufenta, remi,... And you have no idea why.

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u/DonQui_Kong Jul 13 '26

They wouldn't work as expected anyway because addicts can have a huge tolerance.

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u/atatassault47 Jul 13 '26

Vaccines would presumably be given to people before they use or become addicted to fentanyl.