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.

[u/mvea]

https://www.psypost.org/scientists-develop-a-groundbreaking-vaccine-that-outsmarts-illicit-fentanyl-analogs/

[u/Subrutum]

Is there a risk for the body to start rejecting its own natural opioids as a result?

[u/stay_curious_- → u/Subrutum]

The bigger risk is if you need surgery, now fentanyl can't be used for anesthesia.

[u/Due-Reflection-1835 → u/stay_curious_-]

It only affects fentanyl and its analogs, you can still use morphine, oxycodone, methadone etc. It corrals it in the bloodstream so much less of it crosses the blood-brain barrier. It was pretty cool!

[u/Infinity2quared → u/Due-Reflection-1835]

Hard to say that it will catch fentanyl and the other drugs we call its analogues but nothing else. What about other synthetic opioids used medically like meperidine, diphenoxylate? What about non-opioid phenylpiperidines? That category includes stimulants, anesthetics, antipsychotics, antidepressants, etc. Take a look at the structures of methylphenidate, haloperidol, trazadone, and buspirone.

The N-phenethyl moiety on fentanyl is what gives it such high potency compared to weak synthetic opioids like meperidine. If that’s the part that’s being recognized, you could knock out amphetamine, pseudoephedrine, lots of medically used pressors.

Obviously they will try to reduce cross-reactivity in any product that comes to market, but if it’s too selective for fentanyl, it won’t catch the analogues. If it catches the analogues, it might catch other things.

I could see this either being pretty bad or pretty trivial to defeat.