New Drugs For Neuropathic Pain

Today's post from informahealthcare.com (see link below) looks at potential new drugs for neuropathic pain. Sorry to disappoint you - they're not here yet (you won't be surprised to read that) and the article itself may leave you searching for a medical dictionary but it is reassuring to know that in contrast to previous decades, serious research and development into new drugs is happening. There seems to be an enthusiasm in the research world for finding new options for nerve damage and the pain it causes. Now if they could get a move on and get them on to the pharmacy shelves, we'll enthuse with you.

 
Emerging drugs for neuropathic pain
September 2014, Vol. 19, No. 3 , Pages 329-341 doi:10.1517/14728214.2014.915025)

Ian Gilron †1 MD MSc FRCPC Director, Clinical Pain Research and Professor  Anthony H Dickenson2 PhD FmedSci Professor of Neuropharmacology, Neuroscience, Physiology and Pharmacology
1 Queen's University, Kingston General Hospital, Departments of Anesthesiology  Perioperative Medicine and Biomedical and Molecular Sciences,
76 Stuart St, Kingston, ON K7L 2V7, Canada +1 613 548 1375; gilroni@queensu.ca
2 Departments of Neuropharmacology, Neuroscience, Physiology and Pharmacology, University College,
London, UK
†Author for correspondence

Introduction: Neuropathic pain is a costly and disabling condition, which affects up to 8% of the population. Available therapies often provide incomplete pain relief and treatment-related side effects are common. Preclinical neuropathic pain models have facilitated identification of several promising targets, which have progressed to human clinical phases of evaluation.

Areas covered: A systematic database search yielded 25 new molecular entities with specified pharmacological mechanisms that have reached Phase II or III clinical trials. These include calcium channel antagonists, vanilloid receptor antagonists, potassium channel agonists, NMDA antagonists, novel opioid receptor agonists, histamine H3 receptor antagonists, a novel sodium channel antagonist, serotonin modulators, a novel acetylcholine receptor agonist, α-2b adrenoreceptor agonist, cannabinoid CB2 receptor agonist, nitric oxide synthase inhibitor, orexin receptor antagonist, angiotensin II 2 antagonist, imidazoline I2 receptor agonist, apoptosis inhibitor and fatty acid amide hydrolase inhibitor.

Expert opinion: Although the diversity of pharmacological mechanisms of interest emphasise the complexity of neuropathic pain transmission, the considerable number of agents under development reflect a continued enthusiasm in drug development for neuropathic pain. Ongoing enhancements in methodology of both preclinical and clinical research and closer translation in both directions are expected to more efficiently identify new agents, which will improve the management of neuropathic pain.

http://informahealthcare.com/doi/abs/10.1517/14728214.2014.915025