申请人:BLUMENTECH, S.L.
公开号:US20210186927A1
公开(公告)日:2021-06-24
The state of general anesthesia (GA) is essential to many surgical and medical procedures. This state is characterized by loss of consciousness, deep analgesia and suppression of movements. GA is rarely achieved with a single drug, usually requiring the combination of various pharmacological agents. Each drug can interact with one or more molecular targets affecting neuronal excitability and synaptic transmission in multiple regions of the CNS. Agonists of the μ-opioid receptor are commonly used in GA to cause analgesia, but not to induce or maintain loss of consciousness or movement suppression. Additionally, agonists of the μ-opioid receptor can cause serious unwanted side effects, e.g. respiratory depression. The present invention provides alternative combination products based on K-opioid receptor agonists. These combination products unexpectedly induced loss of consciousness, and were able to achieve and maintain GA. Furthermore, the combination products suppressed pain perception without the need of a μ-opioid receptor agonist. The combination of Salvinorin A, a selective κ-opioid receptor agonist, with Diazepam or Medetomidine surprisingly led to rapid consciousness, deep analgesia and movement suppression. This combination was found to effectively induce and maintain a state of general anesthesia.