Pre-clinical studies have shown Addex’s drug candidate ADX71943 to be effective in reducing increased pain sensitivity in the monosodium iodoacetate model of osteoarthritis.
The eight-day treatment, which uses both acute and sub-chronic dosing of the drug, observed statistically significant antihyperalgesic activity and a trend toward reducing mechanical allodynia.
The drug achieved a maximal effect with the lowest dose tested (1mg/kg) and no development of tolerance was observed during the trial period.
ADX71943 is a selective positive allosteric modulator of GABA-B receptors that mediate the slow, prolonged physiological effects of the inhibitory neurotransmitter GABA.
Allosteric modulation company Addex Pharmaceuticals, which is developing ADX71943, is planning to start a Phase I clinical trial by the end of 2010.
