https://www.cell.com/iscience/fulltext/S2589-0042(23)01198-7

This paper was posted earlier today by a well-meaning user who had misread the research and came to the opposite conclusion. I wanted to correct that, as the post was quite upvoted.

The paper says that the metabolite of isotonitzene (N-desethyl version) require higher concentrations to reach EC50, meaning the metabolite is about 1/4 to 1/2 the strength of isotonitazene in this study.

Between the nitazene compounds, the rank order of potency in the G protein dissociation BRET assay was isotonitazene (EC50 = 107 pM) > N-desethyl isotonitazene (EC50 = 252 pM)

And higher doses are needed to reach the effective dose in tail-flick studies

The paper is clear that isotonitazene and others are about as potent as fentanyl but longer lasting, meaning that the drug can stay in the body longer than the duration of action of naloxone, and a user could slip back into overdose after being treated with naloxone. Never use alone. If you have these substances as powder, you need to make a volumetric solution to measure them easily.

In case you have only ever read the word, nitazene is derived from nitro, which is derived from nitrogen. So it's pronounced NI-ta-zene, copying however you pronounce nitrogen. For people speaking british/american english, this sounds like "night", not "nit".