Morphine Relief Without Addiction?

Posted by ryuzaki0 on Sunday August 20, 2006 @09:29AM from the plop-plop-fizz-fizz dept.

Roland Piquepaille writes "Morphine has been used as a painkiller for decades, if not centuries. Unfortunately for patients, morphine is also an addictive substance. Now, Brigham Young University (BYU) chemists are using a vine plant that grows in Australia to develop a new painkilling molecule, but with fewer side effects. The Deseret Morning News reports that the BYU chemists hope to ease pain with hasubanonine, the synthetic compound they created and which has a similar molecular structure as morphine. Still, more tests need to be done before this natural drug can replace morphine."

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What about royalties for the native Australians? by Anonymous Coward · 2006-08-20 10:23 · Score: 0, Flamebait

Is this going to become another example of the USA stealing the biological wealth of an indigenous people, like they did in India? This is genetic piracy!