GoKawiilOpioids, including morphine, are the gold standard for pain management. Yet they are accompanied by a considerable number of side effects and a high risk of misuse1,2. The side effects include phenomena such as tolerance and dependence, and symptoms such as nausea, constipation, and, crucially, respiratory depression, which is the main cause of death after an overdose. Opioids exert their pain-relieving (analgesic) and euphoric effects mainly through the µ-opioid receptor (MOR), the activation of which strongly influences brain circuits that mediate reward and reinforcement1,2. Chronic exposure to opioids can progressively rewire these circuits, contributing to the development of opioid-use disorder. These mechanisms help to explain the opioid crisis observed in the United States and other countries, and they underscore the pressing need for alternative analgesics with reduced adverse effects. Writing in Nature, Gomez et al.3 report a step along the way to this long-sought4 goal.
doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-026-00806-3
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Competing Interests The authors declare no competing interests.
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