Pain is a complex area, not least because there are several different types of pain, and that pain can have many different causes. Pain also contains major complex of problems and can more or less take over everyday life for those affected. Existing treatments have a variety of side effects.
Pain can occur, among other things, at high heat or at pressure or impact. Such pain is called nociceptive pain or tissue injury pain. In some situations, the body may have difficulty localizing the pain. It can then manifest in another body part, and you then talk about referenced pain. An example of this is a heart attack where the pain can radiate into the left arm.
Pain can also occur in injuries or diseases of the nervous system itself, both in the peripheral nervous system (PNS) and the central nervous system (CNS). Even psychiatric diseases can give rise to pain, so-called psychogenic pain. There are also pain conditions where you do not know the cause, you then talk about idiopathic pain.
The pain that CombiGene and Zyneyro intend to treat are severe chronic pain conditions such as neuropathic pain, phantom pain and pain associated with various types of back injuries where the pain is caused by an increased sensitivity in the nerve pathways.
Pain is a major global problem
Between 15-25 percent of the adult population in Europe and the United States suffers from ongoing pain problems and about 7 percent have chronic pain. In the United States, between four and eight percent of the population is estimated to be affected by high impact chronic pain. Conventional treatment consists mainly of anti-inflammatory drugs, antidepressants, antispasmodics, and opioids (a group of substances with a morphine-like mechanism of action). [1]
The problems with today’s treatments
The problem with these treatments is that they are not specifically developed to treat chronic pain. The pain relief that is achieved therefore often has a number of disabling side effects such as depression, anxiety, fatigue, impaired physical and mental ability, and addiction problems. In the United States, an estimated 700,000 people have died due to opioid abuse in the past 20 years.
Pain affects everyday life
Living with constant pain is incredibly tiring. Long-term/chronic pain risks to completely dominate life with limitations in mobility and daily activities and inability to work with a low quality of life and a negative social situation as a result. It is not uncommon for pain problems to lead to stress, sleep problems, depression, and anxiety, which in turn can enhance the pain experience.
[1] Prevalence of Chronic Pain and High-Impact Chronic Pain Among Adults — United States, 2016; CDC; Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report Weekly / Vol. 67 / No. 36 September 14, 2018
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