
Developing a vaccine for the zombie drug xylazine Scripps Research chemical biologists design an early proof-of-concept vaccine that could lead to the first effective treatment of xylazine overdose in people.
April 03, 2024
LA JOLLA, CA Xylazine is an FDA-approved sedative and pain reliever for use in animals, but it has severe adverse effects when used in humans. It is now illicitly being added to opioids, like fentanyl and heroin, as well as cocaine leading to a sharp rise in overdose deaths.
Now, Scripps Research chemical biologists have developed a vaccine to block the effects of xylazine's toxicity. The vaccine works by training the immune system to attack the drug, which is described in a new paper published in Chemical Communications on April 1, 2024.
We demonstrated that a vaccine can reverse the symptoms of a xylazine overdose in rodents, says study senior author Kim D. Janda, PhD, the Ely R. Callaway, Jr. Professor of Chemistry at Scripps Research. There is currently no remedy for xylazine poisoning other than supportive care, thus, we believe our research efforts and the data we have provided will pave the way for an effective treatment in humans.
The rapid increase in lethal drug overdoses attributed to xylazine combined with fentanyl prompted the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy to declare this combination an emerging threat to the United States. Xylazine intoxication presents similarly to opioid overdose, causing respiratory and central nervous system depression, and it can heighten the effects of opioids. However, naloxone typically administered to reverse the effects of opioids does not tackle the impact of xylazine, highlighting the need for effective measures to treat acute toxicity caused by xylazine.
Researchers suspect xylazine works by reducing blood flow to the brain, among other areas of the body. The drug also causes non-healing skin lesions and wounds, often located on the forearms and lower legs, that can require amputation in some cases giving it the nickname zombie drug.
Although no treatment currently exists, targeted vaccines may offer a solution. Vaccines nudge the immune system to create antibodies to fend off invaders. Antibodies can target viruses, bacteria and toxins. However, sometimes molecules are too small to initiate an immune response, as is the case with xylazine. So, to circumvent this problem, the researchers created a vaccine using a design principle that Janda pioneered, which relies on pairing the drug molecule (called a hapten) with a larger carrier molecule (a protein) and an adjuvant.
In this study, the scientists combined a xylazine hapten with multiple different protein types, to see which combination would create a robust immune response against xylazine. The team tested three vaccine formulations (termed TT, KLH and CRM197, based on the protein involved) to see which vaccine cocktail could help rodents after being challenged with xylazine. One of the three vaccines (TT) significantly increased movement in mice given xylazine after 10 minutes, while two of the three vaccines (TT and KLH) led to an improvement in breathing.
The scientists also examined how these vaccines would limit xylazine blood brain barrier, (BBB) permeation, a filtering mechanism that scrutinizes drug penetration. When xylazine was injected, it immediately crossed into the brain to bind with receptors. Antibodies typically cannot navigate the BBB; however, two of the three vaccines (TT and KLH) showed a strong ability to stop xylazine from reaching its receptors in the brain, limiting its detrimental effects.
A provisional patent has been filed on the research. In the future, his team will build off this work to create a bifunctional antibody that will reverse both fentanyl and xylazine's toxicity simultaneously, something that naloxone cannot do.
A monoclonal antibody treatment could be given in tandem with the vaccine to provide both immediate and long-term protection from both opioid substance use disorders as well as opioid-xylazine overdoses, says Janda. This strategy could make a significant impact on the opioid epidemic.
Evaluation of a Hapten Conjugate Vaccine Against the Zombie Drug' Xylazine was co-authored by Mingliang Lin, Lisa M. Eubanks, Bin Zhou, and Kim D. Janda, all of Scripps Research.
Funding for the study was provided by the Shadek family and Pearson Foundation.
Chemistry Janda, Kim
Most recent headlines
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
04/08/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...
04/07/2026
April 7 2026, 19:00 (PDT) Detective Conan: Fallen Angel of the Highway Opens in...
01/06/2026
January 6 2026, 05:30 (PST) Dolby Sets the New Standard for Premium Entertainment at CES 2026
Throughout the week, Dolby brings to life the latest innovatio...
07/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
07/05/2026
Cobalt Digital Wins Two Future Best of Show Awards at 2026 NAB Show
Manufacturer Recognized by TV Tech and TVBEurope for Innovation in signal processing
Cobal...
07/05/2026
Software and hardware platforms, AI power and user-friendliness on show...
07/05/2026
Intinor will demonstrate its latest technical enhancements for the Direkt series at BroadcastAsia 2026. With a continued focus on reliable contribution and remo...
07/05/2026
Bitmovin has announced that MUBI has chosen Bitmovin as its cloud VOD encoding partner, replacing MUBI's legacy on premises encoding setup to improve scalab...
07/05/2026
Meet Graduates from Berklees Class of 2026 Members of this years graduating class reflect on their proudest moments at Berklee and look ahead to whats next.
...
07/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
07/05/2026
At BroadcastAsia 2026, Interra Systems will demonstrate its latest innovations in automated quality control (QC), real-time monitoring, and captioning. The comp...
07/05/2026
At this year's Broadcast Asia, PlayBox Neo is set to unveil recent innovations across its PlayBox Neo Suite and integrated range of broadcast media solution...
07/05/2026
Strategic three-year partnership marks delivery phase of BFBS' next-generation media vision
Media organisation and military charity BFBS (British Forces Br...
07/05/2026
Amagi, the agentic industry cloud platform for unified broadcast, streaming, and monetization, today announced the availability of its In-Content Ads offering v...
07/05/2026
Lightware Visual Engineering has developed Rack Taurus for rack-based environments such as education and corporate training spaces. It enables clean and simple ...
07/05/2026
Jigsaw24, the UK's leading media equipment supplier and systems integrator, will showcase its expanded end-to-end workflow capabilities at MPTS 2026, signal...
07/05/2026
Ease Live, an Evertz company, today announced that it has been granted a US Patent for its proprietary graphical overlay technology, the foundation for interact...
07/05/2026
Test & measurement innovator Leader Electronics of Europe will present an extensive range of Leader, PHABRIX and LeaderPhabrix test and measurement solutions at...
07/05/2026
At Broadcast Asia 2026 (Stand 5H3 8), LiveU is redefining live production with its most powerful IP-video EcoSystem to date built to help broadcasters and con...
07/05/2026
January 8, 2024
Colorfront (colorfront.com), a leader in high-performance, on-s...
07/05/2026
February 9, 2024
Colorfront (colorfront.com), the multi-award-winning pioneer i...
07/05/2026
March 20, 2024
NAB 2024, Las Vegas - Colorfront (colorfront.com), the multi-awa...
07/05/2026
April 1, 2025
CINEMACON, APRIL 1, 2025 - Colorfront (colorfront.com), the multi-award-winning developer of high-performance dailies/transcoding/streaming syste...
07/05/2026
June 15, 2025
Colorfront (colorfront.com), an Academy and Emmy Award-winning de...
07/05/2026
June 15, 2025
Colorfront participated in the ICTA Barcelona Cinema Technology Summit on Sunday, June 15, 2025. Held at The Phenomena Experience, the event feat...
07/05/2026
July 1, 2025
Colorfront (colorfront.com), the multi-award-winning developer of high-performance dailies/transcoding/streaming systems for motion pictures, OTT,...
07/05/2026
July 1, 2025
Passion and dedication will take you places. Come with us on a short trip to the heart of India, where Annapurna Studios is living-up to the inspi...
07/05/2026
July 3, 2025
Colorfront (colorfront.com), the multi-award-winning developer of high-performance dailies/transcoding/streaming systems for motion pictures, OTT,...
07/05/2026
September 1, 2025
IBC 2025, Amsterdam - Colorfront (colorfront.com) - the Acade...
07/05/2026
April 17, 2026
LOS ANGELES - April 17, 2026 - Colorfront today announced Colorf...
07/05/2026
April 23, 2026
NAB 2026, Las Vegas - the Academy and Emmy Award-winning develop...
07/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
07/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
07/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
07/05/2026
Recreating the 1974 Doctor Who Time Tunnel in After Effects
Graham Quince May 6, 2026
0 Comments
The Time Tunnel from Doctor Who titles is one of th...
07/05/2026
Well known Irish faces pushed to the edge in new series of
Uncharted with Ray G...
07/05/2026
RT will premiere A Traveller Family, a compelling new documentary exploring the...
07/05/2026
Less typing, more tanking.
Faster logins mean more time in the gaming action - and this week provides GeForce NOW members with a smoother path straight into th...
06/05/2026
Gravity Media Chief RF Communications Engineer Glenn Willems uses Wisycom RF over Fiber and wireless solutions across major cycling events and international mar...
06/05/2026
A Sennheiser Spectera module is now available in Bitfocus Companion and Buttons, enabling direct integration of Spectera with the two software platforms. The mo...
06/05/2026
Ted Turner, the visionary media entrepreneur whose appetite for disruption helpe...
06/05/2026
Peacock is going all-in on the beautiful game - streaming all 104 FIFA World Cup...
06/05/2026
New pricing tiers for vocal/dialogue restoration tool
NoiseWorks Audio's AI-powered vocal and dialogue processing plug-in is now available in three diff...
06/05/2026
Popular mixing & routing software overhauled
Following a recent public beta test, RME have launched the final release version of the powerful mixing and rou...
06/05/2026
New SOS Video Feature
Focusrites ISA C8X is a milestone product that brings together the companys analogue heritage and their expertise in digital audio. Yo...
06/05/2026
Polands Miecznik-class frigates are part of the largest contract in Polish shipbuilding history. (Image Credit: PGZ Stocznia Wojenna)...
06/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
06/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
06/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...