Scientists may have developed a fentanyl vaccine

Scientists believe they’ve developed a vaccine that will block fentanyl from entering the brain and stop users from getting high — a breakthrough being hailed as a “game changer” in the fight against the opioid overdose epidemic.

In testing on rats, the vaccine “produced significant amounts” of anti-fentanyl antibodies that clung to the deadly addictive synthetic opioid, according to a study printed in the journal Pharmaceutics.

That prevented the drug “from entering the brain, allowing it to be eliminated out of the body via the kidneys,” said lead author Colin Haile of the University of Houston’s Drug Discovery Institute.

“Thus, the individual will not feel the euphoric effects and can ‘get back on the wagon’ to sobriety,” said Haile, predicting it “could have a significant impact on a very serious problem plaguing society for years.”