A ‘Make in India’ Innovation for Neuropathic Pain

New Delhi: Neuropathic pain (NP) which is defined as a pain caused by a lesion or disease of the somatosensory nervous system by the International Association for the Study of Pain has a prevalence of 6%-19% worldwide.
Meanwhile, in epidemiological studies from India from various regions, the overall prevalence of Peripheral Neuropathy varies upto 2400 per 10,000 populations in various community studies.

Also, as per the Neuropathy Symptom Score (NSS) and Neuropathy Disability Score (NDS) criteria, the prevalence of Diabetic Peripheral Neuropathy (DPN) is around 29.2%.

Though it has become a common disorder, but it is a diagnostic and therapeutic challenge to physicians and neurologists across. It can be a challenging disorder to manage because of the heterogeneity of its aetiologies, symptoms and underlying mechanisms.

Moreover, current treatment options of neuropathic pain are mainly focused on neuronal system suppressing rather than treating the inherent cause of NP. Furthermore, most of the drugs used for treatment of NP tend to cause drowsiness, dizziness, blurred vision, somnolence, peripheral oedema, psychomotor slowing and paraesthesia. These side effects decrease the quality of Life of the patient and also reduces active working life.

In all certainty, innovative treatment approach was much needed witnessing the rising burden of the disorder. The research over the last few years suggest that there are more important targets for pain, which are being missed. Most notable of these research works were done by an Italian Nobel laureate Rita Levi-Montalcini honoured for her work in neurobiology to establish the role of inflammatory cells in neuropathic pain management. She helped identify an endogenous cannabinoid system in both the brain and the immune system along with a natural brain lipid amide which was subsequently shown to regulate the NP mechanisms in the human body.

Despite these findings, the problem remained of the external application of the said endogenous fatty acid amide. The endogenous amide which is now known as Palmitoylethanolamide being fat soluble had a relatively very low level of absorption. Further, a group of enzymes by the name of Fatty Acid Amide Hydrolase (FAAH Enzymes) present in the human system further worked to counter any exogenous supplementation of the said amide making the application futile.

Ahmedabad based La Renon Healthcare developed a proprietary technology by the name of MPFAITECH and was able to address the aforesaid concerns with the endogenous amide exogenous supplementation and became the first company in the world to show to synergistic action of the amide with a natural FAAH inhibitor. They launched their product under the name PALMIGES in 2018 and at present have more than 40,000 Indian patients on the innovative product.

Given its success stories in India as a pain management therapy, La Renon planned to spread this novelty worldwide. At the onset, the team applied for its patent globally including the likes of North and South American majors along with Europe, SEA and rest of the world. As they had expected, they began getting positive response beginning with Canada. The Canadian Patent office recently granted patent to Palmiges. The excitement got magnified as Europe also allowed a patent catering to 40 countries of the region. The team is expecting more developments to follow in coming months but for now, Indian innovation Palmiges has begun garnering a lot of international attention. This suggests the potential of the composition and the impact it can create.

La Renon Healthcare having being already established in many other therapeutic domains of chronic disease management, focused their resources combined with their inventive approach for their CNS division and developed this unique formula – Palmiges. The aim was to find a better than existing solution for neuropathic pain management which is not only an agonising experience for the patient but also a long-lasting and deep rooted ailment. Unlike many drugs that were generally administered for neuropathic pain, Palmiges was developed in a way that it was free of side effects and any Drug Drug Interaction (DDI) and hence has garnered so much trust in the Indian market and is now set to venture the regulated international markets with these simultaneous patent nods.

Chairman, Pankaj Singh said, “We believe that we in India have immense potential to offer innovation in so many sectors including the healthcare. This is just one of the attempts to take the impact of ‘Make in India’ movement to different books of the world and it is our constant endeavour to make it more sustainable by pooling our products with novelty and a differentiating approach.”

Source: ET

Image Courtesy: VerywellHealth