PharmNovo aims to develop novel drugs with superior clinical properties to treat patients with neuropathic pain using our knowledge and experience in drug design and G protein-coupled receptor pharmacology. Our specific pharmacological target is the delta opioid receptor (DOR).
Chronic neuropathic pain can occur after trauma or from some diseases, including viral infection, and diabetes, resulting in pain that does not resolve. This kind of pain has no survival value and, indeed, results in a real reduction in sufferers’ quality of life.
PharmNovo’s primary goal is to target the multiple disease areas of chronic neuropathic pain and the commonly associated conditions of anxiety and depression. However, there are other evidence-based therapeutic targets, including post-surgical and cancer pain, migraine, pruritus (itch) and chronic cough. These disease areas have mechanistic commonalities susceptible to the company’s novel approach to drug discovery.
PharmNovo’s development strategy initially focuses on sensory hypersensitivity conditions, such as neuropathic pain with mechanical allodynia which is a hard-to-treat component I of many neuropathic pain states. This condition can be studied clinically with more objective measures (quantitative sensory testing) in addition to the commonly applied subjective approaches (patient-reported outcomes) used in trials of other chronic pain medicines.
Neuropathic pain
- Neuropathic pain, also called nerve pain, occurs when a health condition affects the nerves that carry sensations to your brain.
- Neuropathic pain is characterized by abnormal hypersensitivity to stimuli, including allodynia, a condition in which pain is caused by a stimulus that does not usually elicit pain.
- Neuropathic pain is caused by damage or disease affecting the sensory system. About 30% of all neuropathic pain happens because of diabetes.
- Neuropathic pain is usually chronic; the body just sends pain signals to your brain unprompted. Neuropathic pain tends to get worse over time.
- Most of the available treatments for neuropathic pain have only moderate efficacy and produce side effects that limit their use; therefore, there is a great need for new therapeutic approaches.
