NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) — A drug thousands of times stronger than morphine is showing up on streets across Tennessee, leading doctors to put out a warning.

Nitazenes, a highly potent synthetic opioid first developed in the 1950s, was so powerful that it was never approved for use in humans. However, the drug is now claiming lives in the Volunteer State.

News 2 has covered countless stories about the impact of fentanyl, a synthetic opioid 50 times more powerful than morphine. Now imagine a drug thousands of times more powerful than that.

"Nitazenes are synthetic opioids, they are hundreds of times more powerful than fentanyl," said Dr. Shravani Durbhakula, associate professor of Anesthesiology, Division of Pain Medicine at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. "The most common type we are seeing is about 20 times more powerful than fentanyl, but there are many forms and they are being laced into other drugs right now, and they are an evolving and serious health threat."

Durbhakula said the drug was developed in the 1950s, but was considered so dangerous that it was discontinued.

"It was originally developed by a pharmaceutical company that was hopeful to use it clinically, but they realized it was too potent to justify clinical use, so the drug was shelved and we forgot about it," she explained. "In 2018, it started showing up in the drug supply, illicit drugs and overdose deaths."

According to Durbhakula, the precursors for the drug are produced in China, then cooked up in clandestine labs, distributed throughout the nation, often mixed with other drugs, creating a potentially lethal reaction for unsuspecting drug users.

"The CDC has data, we know there are deaths, there have been at least 93 if not more in the state of Tennessee alone," she added. "They are getting smarter and creating things we cannot detect that are not easily testable. We must stay on top of this so we don't fall behind the curve, because falling behind the curve means more overdoses, more deaths and more people who are harmed."

The Vanderbilt doctor told News 2 that nitazenes are hard to detect without the use of chromatography, which not many agencies utilize. She said an overdose can be reversed, but it typically requires two or three times the typical application of naloxone commonly used to reverse opioid overdoses.

"You may need one dose of naloxone, though that is unlikely because of how potent it is," said Durbhakula. "It's more likely going to be at least two doses, but probably more like three or four, the real question is, how quickly do you need to get to the patient and how many doses do you really need to give to effectively reverse this?"

News Source : https://www.wkrn.com/news/tennessee-news/drug-more-powerful-than-fentanyl-hitting-tennessee-streets/