A team at the University of Arizona developed non-opioid compounds to help with chronic pain.
Pharmacology professor Rajesh Khanna says these compounds are still being tested.
He says unlike opioids, results have shown these compounds are non-addictive, more effective than morphine and non-toxic.
"Pain is not going away anytime soon unless we arm the physicians with something other than opioids it is going to be devastating," he said.
Khanna says he hopes they can begin trying these compounds on humans in a couple of years.
