Current therapies for the treatment of pain and inflammation in diseases such as osteoarthritis largely rely upon the use of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) in combination with opiates such as morphine sulfate. These drugs, however, are ineffective in a large percentage of patients or cause complicated side effects such as gastrointestinal ulceration and respiratory depression. The development of safer, more effective treatments is therefore the goal of much pharmaceutical research. Nerve growth factor (NCF) is a key mediator in the genesis of hypersensitivity and allodynia in states of pain and inflammation and the prevention of the NCF/receptor interaction has been shown to improve pain in a number of preclinical animal models. Pfizer has developed a humanized anti-NCF monoclonal antibody, tanezumab, as a therapy for safe and effective pain relief. Tanezumab works by sequestering NCF, thereby preventing NCF from interacting with its receptors on sensory neurons, which acts to alleviate painful symptoms. Tanezumab has successfully entered human clinical trials and a number of phase ll/lll trials are ongoing to investigate the safety and efficacy of tanezumab in treating pain related to osteoarthritis, chronic lower back pain and other disease-related chronic pain states for which no wholly effective therapy exists.
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