Neuropathic pain treatment

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Overview Neuropathic pain is a chronic condition caused by a primary lesion or dysfunction of the nervous system i.e. neuropathy. Despite significant drug development investment, neuropathic pain remains an area with considerable therapeutic need. As the development mechanism is not completely understood it is difficulty to identify drug targets. Current treatments for neuropathic pain lack efficacy and have unfavourable adverse effects. Dr Okuse’s and Prof Rice’s teams have developed an approach to disrupt TLPQ-21/ gC1qR interaction by neutralising antibodies which holds promise as a drug target for controlling neuropathic pain. Technology Imperial College team has discovered the up-regulation of VGF, a neuropeptide precursor, in three different models of therapeutic pain. They further identified gC1qR as receptor of TLQP-21, a VGF-derived neuropeptide, and found that their direct interaction mediates neuropathic pain. Based on this discovery, disrupting this interaction provides a completely new concept in treating chronic pain and a promising approach to develop novel analgesics to control neuropathic pain. Using neutralizing antibodies against gC1qR team successfully blocked the response of macrophages to TLPQ-21 which resulted in a delayed onset of nerve injury-associated mechanical hypersensitivity in vivo. Development stage This technology shows promise demonstrated efficacy in animal model of neuropathic pain. Next steps include continuous application of antibodies by an osmotic pump or systemic injection. The team is now exploring in more detail the key epitopes in receptor that drive the pathway in order to better understand mode of action through which neutralizing antibodies neutralise neuropathic pain.   Intellectual Property Composition of matter and method of use are protected by patent application published as WO2013/110945.