Researchers from Weill Cornell Medicine and the Burke Neurological Institute have discovered a new drug that could bring real hope to people suffering from long-lasting nerve pain.
In early tests on rats, the drug helped reduce pain without causing the dangerous side effects seen with current treatments like opioids.
Chronic nerve pain, also called neuropathic pain, happens when nerves outside the brain and spinal cord are damaged. It can feel like burning, stabbing, or tingling, and it often lasts for years. Many people with this kind of pain struggle to find treatments that work.
Doctors usually prescribe medicines like gabapentin or duloxetine. These can help some people, but not everyone. They also often cause side effects like feeling sleepy, dizzy, or sick to the stomach.
Opioids are sometimes used for pain, but they come with big problems. They can cause addiction, and over time, people need higher doses to feel relief. Even worse, opioids don’t work very well for nerve pain in most cases.
The new drug takes a different approach. It doesn’t just block pain signals everywhere. Instead, it targets a problem inside the nerve cells that causes them to send too many pain signals to the brain. The issue comes from certain proteins called HCN ion channels. When these channels are too active, they send constant pain messages.
The problem is that these HCN channels are not just in pain nerves—they’re also found in the brain and heart. Blocking them everywhere can be dangerous, leading to side effects like heart problems or drowsiness. So, the scientists needed a way to stop the pain signals without affecting the rest of the body.
Dr. Gareth Tibbs and his team found a clever solution. They created a drug called BP4L-18:1:1. It’s based on propofol, a drug usually used to put people to sleep during surgery. But they added something special—a kind of “anchor” that keeps the drug in the nerves outside the brain and spinal cord.
This anchor acts like tying a boat to a dock. It helps the drug stay in the right place so it can calm the overactive nerve cells without drifting into the brain or heart, where it could cause problems.
In rat studies, the drug reduced pain without causing tiredness, heart issues, or other serious side effects. Even better, the drug was given as a pill, which means it could one day be taken easily by mouth.
Dr. Steven Fox, founder of Akelos, the company working to bring the drug to patients, said this new approach could change how doctors treat nerve pain. It directly targets the cause of the pain instead of just covering it up.
The research was supported by the Daedalus Fund for Innovation, which helps scientists turn lab discoveries into real treatments. If future studies go well, the team hopes to start human trials soon.
This discovery is an exciting step forward. For many people living with chronic nerve pain, there may finally be a safer and more effective way to find relief.
If you care about pain, please read studies about Scientists find a new way to manage knee pain and findings of Promising new drug offers hope for chronic nerve pain relief.
For more about pain, please read studies about Chronic morphine use for cancer pain may increase bone loss and findings of Scientists find a new hope for chronic pain.
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