How neuroscientists are designing a safer opioid

A promising new study found an experimental opioid that can suppress pain like traditional drugs—without all the dangerous downsides.

America remains in the grips of an opioid epidemic. Over the past 25 years or so, opioid overdose deaths have been rising steadily, reaching a record 81,806 in 2022, and not budging much since. Drugs like morphine, hydrocodone, and fentanyl are extremely effective at pain management, but they’re also very addictive and, when taken in large doses, deadly.