Tris Pharma Announces Acceptance of New Publication Highlighting Promise of Dual NOP-MOP (dual-NMR) Agonists for the Treatment of Moderate-to-Severe Pain

– Preferential MOP agonists such as oxycodone are often required for effective management of moderate to severe pain but come with significant risks of addiction and overdose –

– With Dual NMR agonists, NOP and MOP agonism combine to provide analgesia while NOP counters many of the negative effects of MOP receptor agonism –

– Dual NOP-MOP agonists have the potential to provide comparable analgesia, but with a substantially lower risk of abuse, addiction, and overdose than preferential MOP agonists such as oxycodone –

MONMOUTH JUNCTION, N.J., Jan. 08, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Tris Pharma, Inc. (Tris), a commercial-stage biopharmaceutical company, today announced the acceptance of its peer-reviewed article “The Therapeutic Potential of Dual-NMR (NOP/MOP) Agonism in Pain Management” for publication in Pain and Therapy.

Since its discovery in 1995, the nociception / orphanin FQ (NOP) receptor system has been an area of intense research. This paper presents the current state of understanding of the NOP receptor system and its interplay with the μ-opioid (MOP) receptor system. Additionally, the paper discusses the data that has been generated on a new class of dual NOP/MOP (dual-NMR) analgesics which has the promise of providing potent analgesia with a significantly lower risk of negative side effects associated with preferential MOP agonists such as oxycodone or morphine.

Key findings from the publication include:

• Preferential MOP agonists, like morphine and oxycodone, are often the only effective treatments for moderate-to-severe pain, yet carry significant risks including physical dependence, tolerance, addiction, and respiratory depression
• Despite sharing partial structural homology to opioid receptors, the NOP receptor has a distinct pharmacological profile: its activation produces analgesia while minimizing several side effects associated with MOP-only activation
• Dual-NMR receptor agonists, which simultaneously activate both NOP and MOP receptors, have been designed to combine the pain-relieving benefits of both NOP and MOP activation, while mitigating many of the negative effects of preferential MOP agonism, offering a more balanced approach to pain management
• Studies show that dual-NMR agonists provide strong analgesia across various pain types with a lower risk of physical dependence, tolerance, addiction, and respiratory depression, highlighting them as a promising new class that may provide effective pain management with a more balanced safety profile
  
  

“Since its discovery 30 years ago, our understanding of the nociceptin system has grown,” said Dr. Roberto Ciccocioppo, PhD, Professor of Pharmacology at the University of Camerino and an author of the paper. “NOP receptor stimulation was first seen to provide analgesia, then discovered to counter many of the effects of MOP receptor stimulation, and now many studies across multiple compounds have shown that coactivation of NOP and MOP can provide strong analgesia with lower risks of serious side effects than MOP receptor stimulation alone. As a result, I believe dual-NMR agonists represent an important new breakthrough in pain management.”

Details of the Publication

• Title: The Therapeutic Potential of Dual-NMR (NOP/MOP) Agonism in Pain Management
• Authors: Roberto Ciccocioppo, PhD, University of Camerino; Jeffrey Gudin, MD, University of Miami Miller School of Medicine; Charles Argoff, M.D., Albany Medical College; Ema Offidani, Ph.D., Tris Pharma; James C. Hackworth, Ph.D., Tris Pharma; David Fam, Pharm.D., Tris Pharma; Jim Potenziano, Ph.D., Tris Pharma
• Journal: Pain and Therapy
  
  

Tris Pharma commissioned this research in support of its work developing cebranopadol, a first-in-class investigational dual-NMR agonist.

About Acute Pain
Acute pain affects millions of patients each year and is caused by injury, surgery, illness, trauma, burns or painful medical procedures, which can last up to three months, and typically resolves once the underlying cause is treated or healed. Moderate-to-severe acute pain can often only be effectively treated with opioid analgesics such as oxycodone, especially following joint replacements and other orthopedic procedures, invasive surgeries, and major traumas and burns.

About Cebranopadol

Cebranopadol is a first-in-class investigational therapy that targets two key receptors, the nociceptin/orphanin FQ peptide (NOP) and µ-opioid peptide (MOP) receptors (a dual-NMR agonist), for the treatment of moderate-to-severe pain, as well as opioid use disorder (OUD). These receptors are partially homologous to each other, and they play both complementary and distinct roles to modulate pain biology pathways. Studied in over 33 clinical trials in more than 2,200 subjects, cebranopadol’s profile has been well characterized in pain management studies. It has demonstrated positive clinical results in acute pain, chronic pain and diabetic neuropathic pain with a favorable safety profile. The FDA granted Fast Track Designation to cebranopadol for chronic low back pain, and if approved, it could become the first dual-NMR pain-relief therapy with the potential to provide efficacy equivalent to selective MOP agonists such as oxycodone with less risk of misuse or physical dependence, addiction or overdose.

Cebranopadol’s novel mechanism of action has potential in treating patients with substance use disorders (SUDs). Tris plans to continue to evaluate cebranopadol’s potential to help patients break the cycle of opioid addiction. The National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), has awarded Tris a five-year grant of up to $16.6 million to study cebranopadol’s potential to treat OUDs and SUDs.

About Tris Pharma

Tris Pharma is a privately held, innovation-driven biopharmaceutical company that is applying its drug development capabilities and proprietary technologies to transform the treatment of ADHD, pain, addiction and disorders of the central nervous system. Tris markets a portfolio of best-in-class ADHD products and is developing a promising pipeline of differentiated near-term drug candidates. More information is available at www.trispharma.com and on LinkedIn @TrisPharma.

Media Contact

Jonathan Pappas
LifeSci Communication
jpappas@lifescicomms.com

Company Contact

Cheryl Patnick
Tris Pharma, Inc.
cpatnick@trispharma.com

Legal Disclaimer:

EIN Presswire provides this news content "as is" without warranty of any kind. We do not accept any responsibility or liability for the accuracy, content, images, videos, licenses, completeness, legality, or reliability of the information contained in this article. If you have any complaints or copyright issues related to this article, kindly contact the author above.