Neuropathic Pain
With approximately 15 million people suffering from painful neuropathy in the USA, and few available treatment options, neuropathic pain represents an area of significant unmet medical need. Current treatment of peripheral neuropathic pain involves several drug classes, including gabapentinoids, antidepressants, antiepileptic drugs, local anesthetics, capsaicin and opioids. Many patients have suboptimal relief with monotherapy and treatment is frequently multimodal, involving use of two or more drugs from different pharmacologic classes.
Almost entirely as a result of the success of Pfizer’s Neurontin® (gabapentin), which had peak sales of $1.3 billion for neuropathic pain, this has become one of the most sought-after indications. Robust promotional efforts by Pfizer (Lyrica®), Lilly (Cymbalta®) and Endo (Lidoderm®) have improved physician and patient awareness of neuropathic pain and its management.
According to Datamonitor, the market for neuropathic pain drugs is expected to grow to $5.5 billion by 2015. In the United States, Lidoderm®, Neurontin® and Lyrica® are the only approved treatments for postherpetic neuralgia and Lyrica® and Cymbalta® are the only approved treatments for painful diabetic neuropathy. Presently, no treatments are approved for the treatment of painful HIV neuropathy. Lidoderm® patch is the only topical local anesthetic approved for the treatment of neuropathic pain, with 2009 U.S. sales of estimated at $770 million.
Neuropathic Pain: Approved Therapies
