2003 - Avigen goes after Diabetic Neuropathy
East Bay firms join pain therapy quest
Susan L. Thomas
Avigen Inc. this month placed its bet in what could be a multibillion-dollar market.
The small Alameda biotechnology firm, best known for its gene therapy work in hemophilia, announced a new product development program based on early studies that show researchers may have overlooked an important component in the cause of neuropathic pain.
"Over the last 10 years, a lot of additional work has been done on trying to understand neuropathic pain and to get drugs that actually work against the neuropathic pain. And frankly it's been pretty dismal," said Avigen Chief Operating Officer Ken Chahine.
Chahine, clearly excited about the company's new pursuit, explains that the traditional approach of treating neuropathic pain by focusing solely on neurons, or nerve cells, may be wrong. Instead, he says, some research shows that glial cells, which support and nourish the neurons, could also be the culprit.
"The shift in the theory now, and the new paradigm is that it's not a neuron problem. It's really the glial cells in communication with these neurons that are actually causing this pain," he said. "So that's the new paradigm that we're sort of after.
"Have we been looking in the right place? Maybe not."
No matter where Avigen is looking, plenty of other firms are also searching for a breakthrough to treat severe chronic and neuropathic pain.
About 90 million Americans suffer from some type of chronic pain, according to the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, an arm of the National Institutes of Health.
Estimates vary on how many suffer from severe chronic or neuropathic pain, but researchers agree that current therapies - usually a mixture of opioids, anticonvulsants and antidepressants - are inadequate.
(Aside note:in a presentation by Paul Freiman it was
written that there were 3.3 million people suffering
from DN worldwide, and approx. 1.1 million of those
were in the USA)
Treating severe chronic and neuropathic pain, the kind often caused by nerve damage or diseases such as cancer or AIDS, has dogged the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries for years. In part, that's because the drugs on the market act on multiple targets rather than specific ones, often causing severe side effects such as sedation, constipation, respiratory depression and sometimes addiction.
Big pharmaceutical firms are working on new drugs. They are eager to develop the next blockbuster or at least to supplement their shrinking pipelines, which have dwindled as their patents have expired.
Pfizer Inc. of New York filed a new drug application with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in October to market pregabalin to manage neuropathic pain associated with diabetic neuropathy among other indications. It now does more than $2 billion in sales annually of Neurontin, the No. 1-selling anti-epileptic drug often used off-label for neuropathic pain.
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