New investigational drugs for the treatment of neuropathic pain

Introduction: Neuropathic pain (NP) is a chronic condition that arises from a lesion or dysfunction of the somatosensory nervous system. However, there are several new targets and novel technologies in the pipeline to address this unmet medical need. Areas covered: In this review, the authors briefly discuss a direction of the development of agents that could be potentially used in NP treatment. Special attention is paid to 1.7-selective voltage-gated sodium channels, N-type voltage-gated calcium channels, angiotensin II (Ang II) AT (2) receptors and nerve growth factor (NGF) as promising targets for new drugs. Furthermore, the article also presents and discusses, in detail, the results of Phase II clinical studies with the AT2 receptor antagonist - EMA401 in NP (the results of Phase II clinical trials of other described compounds are not available, yet). Expert opinion: There is a real hope that new drugs for NP may be available soon. This hope is based on advancing methods of genomics, developing new targets and more efficient drug screening. Some forms of direct influence on voltage-gated ion channels have a place in the treatment of NP, while the development of entirely novel Ang II AT2 receptor antagonists or NGF inhibitors may be available for many chronic pain sufferers in the foreseeable future.