Nitazene

Nitazenes belong to the active substance group of highly effective synthetic opioids. Many representatives of this substance group can be chemically assigned to the benzimidazole class, although there are also variants that differ structurally. They were first developed in the 1950s by the Swiss company Ciba - originally as a possible alternative to morphine for the treatment of severe pain. However, due to their extremely high potency and the associated risk of severe side effects, they were never approved for medical use.

Nitazenes are produced fully synthetically and are many times more potent than morphine. The potential for addiction is considered to be very high and even the smallest amounts can lead to life-threatening overdoses.

Numerous representatives of this substance group have now been identified. Among the better known are: Metonitazene, isotonitazene, protonitazene, etonitazene, N-piperidinyl etonitazene, butonitazene, clonitazene, flunitazene and many others.

This list is not complete, as new substances are constantly being discovered, synthesized and misdeclared. Nitazenes are a relatively new class of synthetic opioids. Science and research in this field is not very advanced. Abuse was first reported in Europe in 2019. There are many documented cases of people dying from overdose after unknowingly consuming nitrazones (for example, due to a misdeclaration containing nitrazones instead of oxycodone ).

There are currently no approved drugs based on nitrazines. Although these substances were originally developed as potential painkillers, they have not found widespread medical use due to their high potency and potential for abuse. Instead, safer and better researched opioids such as morphine, fentanyl and oxycodone are preferred.

Trivia: According to a 2023 study, people hospitalized with nitazene overdose received a statistically significantly higher number of naloxone administrations than people hospitalized with fentanyl overdose. This is further evidence that nitazene is highly effective. According to this study, metonitazene, for example, was found to be a highly potent opioid, but also highly toxic.