Opioids are a broad class of drugs that interact with opioid receptors in your cells, creating sensations of pain relief and pleasure. Opioids can carry the risk of changing the brain’s chemistry, leading to tolerance, such that a larger dosage is required to produce the same effect. Opioid addiction can be characterised by an almost uncontrollable urge to use opioid drugs. It can lead to life-endangering health problems, such as overdosing, which in turn may cause breathing to slow or stop, and ultimately, death.
The opioid addiction crisis is one of the foremost global health concerns of recent years and is largely believed to be a direct result of the overstatement of the benefits of opioids coupled with underplaying the risks by large pharmaceutical companies and advocates.
Check out the full article, written by Alec Griffiths IP Manager at Patent Seekers, in issue 8 of the Global IP Matrix where he analyses the patent landscape surrounding the fight against the opioid crisis.
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