No, not heroin. Alexza Pharmaceuticals is developing new “smokable” painkillers that apparently deliver relief as soon as you take a toke. The drug delivery system is a battery-powered pocket inhaler that heats the drug rather than burns it, not unlike a marijuana vaporizer. From Reuters:
The company’s lead product is a vaporized version of an old drug called prochlorperazine, which Alexza is developing for migraine headaches but is currently used in liquid, oral or suppository form to treat severe nausea.
While it is sometimes given intravenously in hospitals to treat patients with acute migraines, the drug is inconvenient to deliver…
The company plans to release initial results of a mid-stage clinical trial of its (smokable) migraine drug by the end of March. If all goes according to plan, Alexza could file a marketing application with U.S. regulators in 2010.The company is also testing inhalable drugs for pain and anxiety, and for agitation in schizophrenia patients.