AstraZeneca has ended work on an opioid use disorder (OUD) drug after the orexin 1 receptor antagonist demonstrated a drug-drug interaction with an antifungal during a phase 2 trial.
The Big Pharma kicked off the trial in May, according to the company’s website. The study had been assessing how the small molecule, dubbed AZD4041, interacts with the widely used antifungal itraconazole as well as its potential as an adjunctive treatment to the approved OUD drug buprenorphine.
But the trial, which enrolled 15 people with moderate to severe OUD, was finished by July 30, according to the website.
A spokesperson for AstraZeneca confirmed that the program had been discontinued after the pharma identified a “potential drug-drug interaction” with itraconazole, which is FDA-approved to treat serious fungal or yeast infections such as a fungal lung infection called histoplasmosis and certain types of candidiasis.
“These data change the potential benefit:risk in this patient population and do not support further development of AZD4041 in opioid use disorder,” the spokesperson added.
U.S. health officials have been seeking out fresh ways to staunch the U.S.’ opioid epidemic. Buprenorphine—an old medicine used to treat pain and opioid dependence—was approved to treat OUD last year in the form of Braeburn’s Brixadi.
AZD4041 was AstraZeneca’s only clinical-stage candidate being assessed for the disorder. Trevena has a Mu receptor in phase 1 for OUD, while at one point Lyndra Therapeutics was investigating the synthetic opioid analgesic levomethadone for the indication.