New technique could speed pain relief
April 23, 2002 - If Dr. Fakhreddin Jamali has his way, patients suffering from acute pain won't have to wait as long for pain killers to provide relief. The University of Alberta pharmacy professor and founder of Zagros Pharma Ltd has developed a technology which speeds up the effects of analgesics, easing pain far more quickly than available treatments can.
Analgesics relieve pain once they are absorbed into the blood stream, preventing the production of chemicals that stimulate nerve endings and send the sensation of pain to the brain. "But when you have acute pain, oral analgesics usually don't work or the response takes time," said Jamali.
Jamali began researching why that was the case. He uncovered the answer two years ago: analgesics require both stomach fluids and motion to be absorbed into the bloodstream. The problem is that in cases of acute pain those two conditions are often absent and the drugs sit idly in the gastro-intestinal tract.
With that question answered, Jamali was able to develop a new technology which could be combined with analgesics so that fluid and motion aren't required. So far he has only successfully used his new formulation with ibuprofen, an over-the-counter pain reliever.
Jamali is optimistic that this innovation can be brought to the market within two years. "We have an animal model that mimics how it works in humans very closely and the results are very positive," he noted. "And because we're working with existing pharmaceutical drugs, we don't need to go through the first and second phases of clinical trials."
Zagros Pharma was recently bought by Edmonton biotechnology firm Equitech Corporation. Jamali is awaiting the arrival of the first batch of analgesics developed using his new technique, to begin clinical trials.
Jamali hopes his technology can eventually be expanded to address similar problems with other drugs. Seniors often face problems with drug absorption, he said, and he hopes to address that problem as well.
Related link – internal
The U of A Faculty of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences Web site:
http://www.pharmacy.ualberta.ca/
Dr. Fakhreddin Jamali's U of A Web site:
http://www.pharmacy.ualberta.ca/jamali.htm
