DELTA OPIOID ANALGESICS

Opium, morphine and rotated natural and synthetic opiates have been used since antiquity, and to the present, for the relief of moderate and severe pain. Morphine and pharmacologically related drugs, however, produced an array of undesired or dangerous side effect that limit their use as analgesics. Prominent among the limiting side effects are constipation, respiratory depression, release of prolactin, and liability for the production of drug dependence. It was our aim to develop, if possible, a drug or class of drugs with analgesic activity similar to that of morphine, but without the serious side effects associated with morphine. Our overall strategy was to take advantage of advancing knowledge concerning multiple types of opioid receptors, to develop ligands selective for the delta type receptors, to determine whether delta receptor agonists offer advantages over mu agonists, then to design compounds with pharmacokinetic properties compatible with practical therapeutic application. All but the last of these objectives have been realized.