PHARMA JAPAN 1723/November 27, 2000

The US National Institutes of Health (NIH) recently started recruiting through its Internet homepage subjects for a clinical trial of Neurotropin^®, a drug manufactured by Nippon Zoki Pharmaceutical Co.,Ltd. from an extract of inflammatory rabbit skin inoculated with vaccinia virus.
The FDA approved the trial on October 26 in response to an application by the NIH (IND No. 60994). The clinical trial will examine Neurotropin^®'s efficacy for chronic neuropathic pain and acute pain due to tooth extraction. Its therapeutic effects on reflex sympathetic dystrophy (RSD) will receive particular attention.

The drug is currently marketed in Japan and China and is used to treat diseases associated with pain such as lumbago and shoulder, arm and neck syndrome mainly in the fields of surgery, orthopedic surgery, and anesthesia.
An injectable formulation received additional indications for sequelae of subacute myelo-opticoneuropathy (SMON) such as coldness, paraesthesia, and pain in 1993, while the tablet formulation obtained an addition indication for post-herpetic neuralgia in September 1999.

Nippon Zoki said, "We are delighted that the NIH, a US national institute, selected this drug for a clinical trial.
We hope that the future research and clinical trials by the NIH will help relieve pain and disorders in a larger number of RSD patients and further increase the potential of Neurotropin^® as a treatment for various refractory diseases."

NIH clinicaltrial of Neurotropin^®, RSD/CRPS News