U-M researchers push envelope with new morphine system

Wednesday, September 30, 2009 | Source: Concentrate

University of Michigan researchers have developed a smart-drug technology that can help medics administer the correct amount of morphine to casualties on the battlefield.

The intense challenge to administering morphine is two-fold: (1) stresses of the battlefield, coupled with erratic patient circulation caused by trauma and (2) no two soldiers are the same size. The results? Not enough morphine to blunt pain or too much, causing an overdose.

The new U-M research has produced nanotechnology made up of ultra-small polymer particles that control the release of morphine. They are also working on an antidote that will sense and prevent the effects of overdosing before a patient actually ODs.

"We're creating a number of these drugs that have a number of release kinetics," says Dr. James Baker, director of the University of Michigan's Nanotechnology Institute for Medicine and Biological Sciences.

This new technology also has other promising spin-off uses in the private sector, such as being used by first-responders or intensive-care units in hospitals or to treat chronic pain at home.

"We feel we could use this for a variety of drugs," Baker says.

Source: Dr. James Baker, director of the University of Michigan's Nanotechnology Institute for Medicine and Biological Sciences
Writer: Jon Zemke