Millions of people around the world with severe back pain may be able to get relief from New drugs Use antibiotics rather than painkillers to tackle the condition.
The doctor who tested the drug said it was a “game changer” for one in four people who are causing back pain caused by infection rather than muscle or spinal problems.
Early stage trials of the medication found that six in 10 people who took it experienced significant benefits, including a significant reduction in previously suffering pain and disability.
The drug, called PP353, is developed by Persica Pharmaceuticals, a Kent-based biotechnology company. They worked with six NHS hospitals in England and Wales to stage trials.
Dr. Shivatripati, a pain consultant for the NHS and lead investigator for the trial, said that if the drug is approved and made available by regulatory authorities, it would “seem to be like a game-changer for chronic back pain at a similar level. [how] Antibiotics have made a difference in infections. If 25% of patients with chronic back pain can be returned to work, then they can return without medication and without any disability, I think [that] It will become a massive game changer of the future. ”
However, as the randomized controlled trials only involved 22 patients in the UK and 22 patients in Spain, Denmark and New Zealand, PP353 must take further trials and be approved for a watchdog of medicine before doctors can provide it to patients to relieve symptoms.
All patients had severe back pain for at least six months, but in some cases, they had no response to conventional treatments such as painkillers for more than five years.
Persica said the major benefit of treatment is that patients are taking two injections four days apart, rather than taking surgery or tablets for long periods. Recent research has found that most of the 56 methods researchers have studied to relieve back pain, from massage and acupuncture to painkillers and physical therapy, have provided little or no real relief.
PP353 is a combination of three substances already widely used in medicine. Linezolid is an antibiotic. Iohexol, contrast agent or dye; and heat-sensitive gel. It is injected into the lower back to expel infections that occur around the disc.
“We’re looking forward to seeing you in the company,” said Steve Ruston, CEO of the company. [It produced] A significant reduction in pain and disability [patients also got] Clinically meaningful benefits and statistically important benefits. The potential for benefits for patients is enormous.
“If you can reduce the pain and disability people live with some of us [trial] The patient responded, it changes their lives. ”
Market research shows that 2 million people in the US and 250,000 to 300,000 people in the UK could benefit, he added. “Millions of people around the world can benefit from this. But lower back pain is not just a first world problem. Everyone has lower back pain.”
This drug is different from other back pain treatments as it targets not only the main symptoms of pain, but also the underlying cause of the problem.
lower back pain It is one of the most common health issues in the world. Six in ten people in the UK develop it at some point. It is expected to grow as a global problem due to the aging and increasing population. In many cases, the cause is difficult and even more difficult to handle.
Many patients during the trial had reduced the amount of pain they had suffered within a month of injection and were feeling much better after a year, Persia said. But it reduced, but did not remove the need to continue taking sedatives, Ruston added.
However, Dr. Benjamin Ellis, a consultant triumatologist at the Imperial Healthcare NHS Trust in London, specializing in chronic pain, was skeptical about the possibility of PP353.
“Modern medicine has largely failed people with chronic – in other words, long-term back pain. However, there is little evidence that interventions taking surgery, injections, or medications make a big difference for the majority of people with chronic back pain.
“People with chronic back pain are naturally hopeless about what helps. And there is a huge industry in supplying technology and medicines that claim help, but these are pretty much evidence.
“Promising holistic approaches, such as cognitive therapy, often lack attention, especially when services are over-expanded.
“That being said, if there is a subgroup of people with chronic back pain who can certainly benefit safely from a simple injection pair, that would be great news, but that doesn’t seem like that.”
