# Discovering Therapeutic Agents for the Treatment of Opioid Use Disorder by Targeting Negative Allosteric Modulators of the mu-Opioid Receptor

> **NIH NIH R43** · SYMMETRIC COMPUTING, INC. · 2020 · $217,405

## Abstract

Project Summary/Abstract
The current epidemic of opiate addiction has led to nearly 50 thousand deaths a year in the U.S.
Much like the earlier cocaine/crack epidemic, it has proved devastating to individuals, families
and communities. The most successful treatment of long-term opiate use disorder (OUD) is still
one of maintenance using methadone. This is far from a cure, leaving people functional but still
addicted to a narcotic. While the use of powerful opiate blocking drugs, such as naloxone and
naltrexone, has demonstrated great value in rescuing victims of opiate overdose, they have
proved disappointing in the long term treatment of OUD. The use of these drugs often produces
devastating withdrawal symptoms forcing patients to turn to opiates for relief. A better approach
to long term OUD treatment is clearly needed.
The difficulty in treating OUD stems from the fact that opiate use damages the natural
motivational and reward mechanisms in the brain. Curing addiction requires restoring this
mechanism. Unfortunately, both opiates and the drugs used to treat OUD, compromise the
opiate receptor protein, a key component of the reward mechanism. What is needed is a drug
that acts as a switch, blocking the effects of opiates while allowing the reward mechanism to
continue to work normally. This requires a new type of drug that operates on the protein control
(allosteric) site. The proposal employs high performance computer modeling technology along
with biological assays to search for such a drug. If successful it will identify lead compounds that
result in drugs that treat and possibly cure opiate addiction.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10013080
- **Project number:** 1R43DA050383-01A1
- **Recipient organization:** SYMMETRIC COMPUTING, INC.
- **Principal Investigator:** Richard Anderson
- **Activity code:** R43 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $217,405
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2020-05-01 → 2021-05-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10013080

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10013080, Discovering Therapeutic Agents for the Treatment of Opioid Use Disorder by Targeting Negative Allosteric Modulators of the mu-Opioid Receptor (1R43DA050383-01A1). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-24 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10013080. Licensed CC0.

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