Peripheral Neuropathy (PN)
About
Neuropathic pain is a chronic form of pain related to damage to peripheral nerve endings and their respective signalling processes. This form of pain is generally poorly responsive to current analgesics, does not diminish over time and can increase in both intensity and area. Diabetes type 1 and 2, cancer conditions treated with chemotherapy (side effect), viral infections (e.g. HIV), spinal cord and other nerve injuries can result into peripheral neuropathy conditions.
Prevalence and Market Size
- In diabetes neuropathy prevalence ranges from 6 - 51 % with a median value of 28%.
- With 425 million diabetes patients globally in 2017, diabetic patients suffering from PN are beyond the number of 100 million.
- In 2018 the global market size for diabetic PN was 3.6 billion USD and strongly accelerating.
Treatments Available
Current approved treatments (e.g. pregabalin, capsaicin patch) for peripheral neuropathy are only targeting the pain threshold level but do not initiate regeneration of the skin nervous fibres.
The Science of peripheral Neuropathy
The biggest group of sufferers encompasses diabetes patients as well as chemotherapy-treated cancer patients.
One of the micronutrients responsible to prevent PN in the body is the pro-drug pyridoxine (pro-vitamin B6) that is converted by the liver to vitamin B6 that is used as co-enzyme for various biochemical reactions in the body.
The daily recommended intake for humans is 1-2mg pyrodixine (pdx)/kg bodyweight. Paradoxically, long-term daily dosages of 100-150 mg/kg result into the development of reversible neuropathy while in rodent models mega dosages of 800-1000 mg/kg over a few days lead to motor incapacitation or death. Big diameter nervous endings in the skin are affected and diminished over time causing moderate to severe neuropathic pain.
NRP effects:
- Broad range of NRP2945 administered simultaneously with mega dose of pdx is highly effective in preventing motor symptoms.
- NRP dosages of 0.04-20/kg range are effective in the megadose pyridoxine (pdx) rat model (800-1000 mg pdx/kg/day for 8 days).
- NRP prevents death within the ultra-high megadose pyridoxine rat model (1200 mg pdx/kg/day for 5 days).