Switching off Neuropathic Pain–a chronic and globally unmet NEED affecting 100M+ patients–with a tried-&-tested drug family: EGFR-inhibitors

Neuropathic pain (NeuP) results from direct nerve damage. It is an intense and often chronic form of pain with burning, lancinating and electric characteristics. It impacts significantly on the physical, emotional, and economic well-being of sufferers. With increasing prevalence rates already in the range of 6.9 to 10% of the global population, NeuP is widely recognized as one of the most difficult pain-types to manage. Current treatments are largely ineffective and burdened with significant adverse effects and addiction risk. Our solution is a safe and dramatically more effective treatment for NeuP. The EGFR-inhibitors (EGFR-Is) are a class of drug that has been used to treat cancers for >20 years. We serendipitously observed in the clinics that EGFR-Is are very effective in alleviating NeuP. All 6 EGFR-Is we have tested relieved NeuP and EGFR-Is have been effective in 2/3 of >100 patients that we have treated. In just a few hours or days, pain is reduced by >50%. This is in stark contrast to current treatments (only 1/8 success). Big Pharma lacks the financial incentive to repurpose their higher-priced EGFR-Is to NeuP. To expedite development, we will in-license an EGFR-I that stopped clinical oncologic development and test it in a pivotal Phase 2 trial in NeuP.