ALEXANDRIA, Va., Sept. 3 -- United States Patent no. RE50,563, issued on Sept. 2, was assigned to Creative Bio-Peptides Inc. (Potomac, Md.).

"Use of an all-D-pentapeptide chemokine antagonist to reduce opioid dose in a person with pain" was invented by Michael R. Ruff (Potomac, Md.).

According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "A method of treatment of pain in a person with a D peptide chemokine receptor antagonist (CRA), and a pharmaceutically acceptable carrier is disclosed. Because chemokines desensitize opiate receptors and enhance the perception of pain said D-peptide CRA, given with a suboptimal dose of an opioid, such as morphine, will restore opioid analgesic efficacy by blocking the cognate chemokin...