Adenosine 3A receptor agonists for the treatment of neuropathic pain
Abstract
Neuropathic pain conditions occur when nerves are damaged by trauma, toxins, or disease. Common examples include diabetic painful neuropathy, often seen in those with long-standing diabetes, chemotherapy-induced neuropathy, which is a side effect of many of our most useful anti-cancer drugs, and chronic low-back pain following trauma to the vertebral column. At least 13 million Americans suffer from neuropathic pain. For unknown reasons, neuropathic pain responds poorly or not at all to typical analgesic drugs like aspirin and morphine. Current U.S. Food and Drug Administration-approved analgesics for neuropathic pain give useful relief to only about 50% of patients, and of those that do respond, the typical amount of pain relief is less than 50%. Opioid drugs like morphine are known to be poor choices for the treatment of neuropathic pain, but they are nevertheless frequently prescribed in the desperate hope of obtaining at least some relief, and patients not infrequently resort to illicit opioids for the same reason. The result of this opioid use can lead to addiction. It is thus clear that there is a pressing medical need for better, non-narcotic analgesic drugs to treat neuropathic pain. Recent work in laboratory animals with neuropathic pain have discovered a new class of drugs that are potent analgesics for neuropathic pain while having little or no effect on normal types of pain. These new drugs excite a nervous system target called the A3 adenosine receptor (A3AR). They are not opioids and do not produce addiction. The work funded here is aimed at developing one of these A3AR drugs for use in people with neuropathic pain. This requires a series of tests in animals to establish that the drug will not expose humans to unreasonable risks when used in limited, early-stage clinical studies. Success with these studies are the first step in the process needed to develop these new drugs for the millions of patients who suffer from unrelieved neuropathic pain.
Document Details
- Document Type
- DoD Grant Award
- Publication Date
- Oct 29, 2018
- Source ID
- W81XWH1810744
Entities
People
- Gary Bennett
Organizations
- United States Army