Opioid use disorders have risen to epidemic levels over the past two decades resulting in a dramatic increase in overdose death and addiction in the United States. Although opioid-based medications, such as methadone and buprenorphine, are available to help manage opioid use disorders, there are serious concerns over their safety and illicit diversion. These and other factors have contributed to suboptimal treatment outcomes and have prompted the search for safer and more effective non-opioid medication alternatives. Lorcaserin (BelviqR), a serotonin 2C receptor agonist and FDA-approved weight-loss medication, has been proposed as a candidate pharmacotherapy for abuse of stimulant drugs such as cocaine and amphetamines. However, the possible therapeutic effects of lorcaserin against other major drugs of abuse have remained largely a matter of conjecture. A recent study by Drs. Stephen Kohut and Jack Bergman from McLean Hospital and Harvard Medical School has shed new light on the potential therapeutic effectiveness of lorcaserin for the treatment of opioid use disorder. Using a well-validated nonhuman primate model of persistent heroin self-administration and employing a sophisticated behavioral economic analysis of heroin demand, these researchers established clear evidence that daily treatment with lorcaserin can significantly reduce the self-administration of heroin by decreasing its reinforcing strength as defined by the behavioral economic measure elasticity of demand. Lorcaserin did not, however, significantly alter the reinforcing strength of a palatable food reinforcer, which was used as a comparative control. These new preclinical findings are important because they show that lorcaserin can effectively decrease heroin demand and overall drug intake in a sustained, behaviorally selective manner. This profile of effects suggests that serotonin 2C receptor agonists such as lorcaserin may be prime candidates for the development of non-opioid alternatives for the management of opioid use disorder. Dr. Kohut has been an active member of CPDD since 2016 and has served on the Animals in Research Committee (2012-2016) and the Program Committee (2017-present). He is the recipient of the 2019 Joseph Cochin Young Investigator Award. Dr. Bergman has been an active member of CPDD since 1990. He has served in several capacities for the College and is currently Treasurer of CPDD and a member of the CPDD Board of Directors. Dr. Spealman has been a member of CPDD since 1992 and served as a Board of Director from 2010-2013. By Roger Spealman, Ph.D., Animals in Research Committee Member This research is published in the European Journal of Pharmacology 840: 28-32.
