AlzeCure Pharma AB (publ) (FN STO: ALZCUR), a pharmaceutical company that develops a broad portfolio of small molecule candidate drugs for diseases affecting the central nervous system, with projects in both Alzheimer’s disease and pain, today announced that an abstract of its preclinical project TrkA-NAM against osteoarthritis pain and other severe pain conditions has been accepted for presentation at the IASP 2022 World Congress on Pain in Toronto, Canada.
The abstract, titled Analgesic and Anti-inflammatory Effects of Small Molecule Negative Allosteric Modulators of TrkA, will be presented at the Global Pain Conference IASP 2022 World Congress on Pain by Dr. Pontus Forsell, project manager and Head of Discovery at AlzeCure. Other authors include Veronica Lidell, Senior Scientist, Dr. Gunnar Nordvall, Head of Chemistry, and Dr. Johan Sandin, CSO at AlzeCure.
The presentation includes preclinical results showing how TrkA-NAM substances were identified as potent and selective negative modulators of NGF/TrkA signaling in cell-based assays. New important data in a preclinical pain model show, in addition to significant analgesic effect, also a potent anti-inflammatory effect.
"The results show that AlzeCure has identified unique, potent and selective TrkA-NAM molecules that show both analgesic and anti-inflammatory effects in a relevant preclinical model – something we see as a strength for the further development of the program. In addition, identification of selective and potent small molecule TrkA-NAM substances can potentially avoid some of the side effects observed for anti-NGF antibodies due to a more selective mechanism of action, while maintaining the analgesic effect," said Pontus Forsell, project manager of the TrkA-NAM program.
"The project is based on a mechanism with strong validation, both preclinical and clinical. The data we have for TrkA-NAM in pain is promising and the fact that we now also see anti-inflammatory effects with our substance opens up new possibilities. That this is also a mechanism that is not linked to the side effects and addiction problems observed with opioids is of course important for a future approval," said Martin Jönsson, CEO of AlzeCure Pharma.
The abstract and the poster will be available on AlzeCure's website after the presentation (https://www.alzecurepharma.se/en/presentations-and-interviews/).
