Discovery of a selective 5-HT2C agonist by generative machine learning using MegaSyn with applications to treating opioid use disorder
Thane Jones, Joshua S. Harris, Renuka Raman, Sean Ekins · Neurotherapeutics · 2025
The overuse of drugs for treating chronic pain has led to an epidemic, where overdose deaths continue to rise despite a lack of effective treatments for opioid use disorder (OUD). Recently, psychedelic compounds have shown promise to treat OUD by decreasing drug-dependence through activation of the serotonin 2A receptor (5-HT2A) and 2C receptor (5-HT2C) receptor. Serotonin is a major modulator of dopamine neuronal activity, and the 5-HT2C receptor is a principal mechanism by which serotonin inhibits dopamine function and has been targeted by molecules as potential treatments for addiction.