Japanese Scientists’ Non-Addictive Painkiller Offers Hope in Combating Opioid Crisis

South China Morning Post ^ | 28 Aug 2025 | Julian Ryall

[nickcarraway]

If larger-scale trials in the US prove successful, the drug could go on the market in about two years, the Kyoto University team says

A team of Japanese scientists has developed a new painkiller they say is as effective as fentanyl but without its addictive properties, a breakthrough that could reshape the fight against the global opioid crisis if clinical trials succeed. The team from Kyoto University has been working on the project for 13 years, with phase one clinical trials already proving successful and phase two trials due to start soon.

Masatoshi Hagiwara, a professor of pharmaceutical medicine at the university, hopes that larger-scale clinical trials will take place in the US next year and that the drug can be commercially available in around two years.

For Hagiwara, developing the painkiller is personal.

“My father, who was a doctor, died about 20 years ago of gall bladder cancer,” he told This Week in Asia. “The cancer was not the direct cause of his death; it was the morphine-based painkillers that he had to take to control the pain that eventually stopped his breathing. That is one of the typical adverse effects of morphine-based painkillers.”

The team’s new drug was able to eliminate pain without the side effects, even permitting the patient to remain fully conscious, he said, adding that one of the greatest benefits was that patients do not develop dependence.

Statistics from the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention show that there were nearly 55,000 deaths caused by opioid overdoses last year, although that figure was down sharply from 83,140 deaths the previous year. Synthetic opioids, primarily fentanyl, accounted for most of those figures.

Fentanyl is up to 50 times more potent than heroin and 100 times stronger than morphine. It is primarily used by physicians to

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TOPICS: Business/Economy; Health/Medicine; Science
KEYWORDS: japan; opiod; painkillers

[HollyB]

Exactly, I was thinking the same thing.

[Bob434]

When taken “As Prescribed” the addiction rate is less than 1%, and i5s not a true addiction, but rather a dependence, which is different than addiction. It is when patients take it upon themselves to up the amount, without approval or sule4vision of docs, for greater pain relief, or to get high that they become dependent on opioid prescribed by docs. Those who die by and large mix them with wither alcohol or other drugs.

[Bob434]

Exactly, see my previous post. Less than 1% become dependent on opioid when they take them as prescribed.. and note, the <1% is “dep3ndent”, and not “addicted”. They become dependent on it for the reasons you mentioned- fear of pain returning, or fear of having to face and overcome their dep3ndence.

[trebb]

“People who are taking opioids for pain have nothing to do with the “crisis”.

People who are taking crap to get high rarely are in physical pain.”

Yep - when my hip wore out, the pain would sometimes make me squeal like a 10-year old girl finding a pony under the Christmas tree. I was being prescribed 150 Percocet pills a month, but only took 2-3 a day (vs. the 5 allotted) depending on the pain level - mainly in order to sleep. Never got hooked before I had the hip replaced.

These days, I’m on blood thinners and can’t take NSAIDS so I periodically get a prescription for Hydrocodone for times when Tylenol won’t do the job - because I’m still undergoing procedures that cause pain for a cancer. I get 60 at a time and it usually takes me 4-5 months to use them all because I only use them when I really need them. Taking them as I do, I never get “that feeling” the abusers crave.

[If You Want It Fixed - Fix It]

Great. Something non+addictive to take with my boos and weed while watching porn. I have been worried about this.

[catnipman]

if it actually works as advertised and gets approved by the FDA, it’ll cost only $2,000/day to stay pain-free ...

[wardaddy]

People abuse anything makes them feel better

Poontang
Ice cream
Fast cars

And so on

Punishing responsible users is baby and bathwater

But that’s what they do cause it’s easier

Like with guns

Favre a homeboy

His first cousin worked for my dad

Tracy a girl engineer

Well he needed some excuses

I take my pain meds and steroids responsibly

And it’s a lot of hoops

Psoriatic arthritis etc

Worst side effect for me is a bit more blabber mouth and the rapier wit

Some short term memory loss but that could also be age and HFpEF

It’s excruciating to get up from bed

The worst time

You ever see nick nolte in north Dallas forty getting up from bed with exquisite Dale Haddon

That’s me partner every morning

[Harmless Teddy Bear]

Thank you for splitting out dependent from addicted.

My husband is dependent on a pill he takes daily that keeps his A-fib under control. Is he addicted? No, he can quit any time he wants but the end result would be his heart would eventually tear it's self apart.

I do not find that acceptable. :)