Newly created drug has 100 times morphine's power

foxnews.com Australian researchers have found that a drug made using venom from ocean-dwelling cone snails may be 100 times as powerful as top painkillers morphine and gabapentin, which are currently used to ease chronic nerve pain born from injury, cancer, diabetes, and other diseases, AFP reports. What's more, the drug, based on peptides called conotoxins that reside in the snails' venom, is thought not to have the addictive properties of other painkillers, the Sydney Morning Heraldnotes. So far, though, the drug has been tested only on rats. "We don't know about side effects yet, as it hasn't been tested in humans. But we think it would be safe," says lead researcher David Craik. to read more: foxnews.com