Neuropathic and Inflammatory Pain

Neuropathic pain results from a pathological abnormality in the nervous system.  The management of neuropathic pain is one of the greatest challenges facing today's medical practice.  Approximately 1.5% of the population (2.8 million people) in the United States suffers from moderate to severe neuropathic pain associated with back pain, diabetic neuropathy, carpal tunnel syndrome, complex regional pain syndrome, HIV/AIDS neuropathy, phantom limb pain, spinal cord injury, post-herpetic neuralgia, and trigeminal neuralgia.  Unlike nociceptive pain, which is the process of pain transmission usually relating to a receptive neuron for painful sensations, neuropathic pain does not yield readily to standard treatment with anti-inflammatory drugs or to opioid therapy. 

MAKScientific discovered that a novel class of drugs, selective CB2 receptor agonists demonstrated analgesic activity in preclinical animal models of peripheral, inflammatory and neuropathic pain.  Because this class of cannabinoid receptors is found largely outside the central nervous system, selective CB2 receptor agonists are devoid of the CNS side effects that are associated with non-selective cannabinoid receptor agonists.

MAKScientific has developed bioavailable selective CB2 agonists with excellent pharmacological profiles.  Its lead candidate (MAK1400) is currently in advanced preclinical trials and was very effective in rat models of neuropathy associated with cancer chemotherapy. 

CB2 agonists have therapeutic potential in a number of pain models and do not exhibit some of the side effects associated with opioids and NSAIDs.

Two model CB2 agonists reverse the neuropathy resulting from cancer chemotherapy treatment.