AH-7921: A review of previously published reports

ABSTRACT

AH-7921 is a synthetic opioid that was developed in the early 1970s. It has resulted in several fatal and nonfatal intoxications, despite not having approval from the US Food and Drug Administration. To date, AH-7921 is listed as a schedule I drug, and there have been no clinical trials exploring the safety of AH-7921. Herein, we provide an analysis of existing case reports available in the literature regarding AH-7921. We searched PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, and EBSCO for articles (up until December 2017) using the terms “AH-7921” and “AH7921.” In total, 48 articles were identified, and 5 articles were included in our review. A total of 14 cases were found, of which 13 resulted in fatalities. The oral route of administration was reported in two cases, and most cases reported use of concomitant pharmaceutical agents. Pulmonary edema was the most common finding postmortem among deceased cases, with nine of the cases having heavier lungs. Overall, fatalities occurred with low and high concentrations of AH-7921 in the femoral blood. We strongly encourage toxicology screenings for this novel opioid to be included when an overdose of an opioid of unknown nature is suggested.

KEYWORDS:

• AH-7921
• drugs of abuse
• opioid poisoning
• overdose
• pulmonary edema
• synthetic opioid

CONFLICTS OF INTEREST

S.W.F., L.C., and S.K.A. declare employment from Gulfstream Diagnostics, LLC.