According to a July 24 news release from biopharmaceutical company Concentric Analgesics, the patients in the group receiving the highest dose (0.30 mg/ml) of vocacacapsaicin saw a 33% reduction in pain at rest by the fifth day of the phase 2 trial, and 37% saw a reduction in pain at rest by the eighth day.
In addition, the trial found that 100% of the vocacacapsaicin group stopped opioid use for pain relief by the fifth day of the study, while 16% those in the control group still required opioid analgesia on the same day of the study.
The drug triggers the TRPV1 receptor on pain-specific nerves, which can provide long-term pain relief without causing the sensory numbness or motor weakness like some local anesthetics, the release said. As a non-opioid, vocacapsaicin does not pose the same addictive risk as opioid pain relievers.
“This is the first demonstration of a single intraoperative injection leading to earlier cessation of opioids after surgery,” Steven Shafer, MD, an adviser to Concentric who led the trial and a former Stanford (Calif.) University professor, said in the release. “By targeting TRPV1 receptors, vocacapsaicin eclipses the duration of pain relief possible from local anesthetic formulations.”
