French researchers have discovered a chemical naturally produced in our bodies called oriorphin, which is in our saliva but could possibly be produced in other areas of our bodies.
They have tested it on rats in pain and found that it is a lot more potent than morphine.
They have to do many more tests to find out how it works on pain, and what causes it’s release, and the effects it would have if given as medicine. It sounds very promising, but it will be years before we may see this on the market.