The First Topical Muscle Relaxant
Discover the future of anti-spasmodics through our innovative products
The First Topical Muscle Relaxant
Discover the future of anti-spasmodics through our innovative products
Background
Muscular Pain and spasm affect nearly 2 billion people worldwide, so it is a significant health issue. One of the reasons for spasm is that muscle fails to relax completely after contraction. In that contractile state, muscle starts accumulating water and metabolic products like lactic acid, cytokinin, etc. Hence, the ideal treatment would be topical muscle relaxants to relax the muscles; to address the local issue. Once the muscle is relaxed, blood circulation will wash out accumulated water and other metabolic products. Unfortunately, till date there is no FDA approved muscle topical relaxant on the market.
Current Treatment
Currently, all the approved muscle relaxants are given orally or by injection. Notable oral muscle relaxants are Flexeril, Skelaxin, Norflex, Valium, etc. Most of these muscle relaxants work though CNS and cause drowsiness and headache. Further, they require overnight rest to be effective. There is no FDA approved, topical muscle relaxant. All the topical products contain counterirritants like menthol, camphor etc.; or analgesics like diclofenac, methyl salicylate etc.; or anesthetic agents like lidocaine. Counterirritants irritate the nerves, so we forget the pain sensation; analgesics reduce the inflammation, which is somewhat good; and anesthetic agents simply numbs the pain. However, none of these topical products contain muscle relaxants to address root cause of the pain, which is failure of muscle to relax completely.
Our Purpose and Innovation
Prima Innovations is developing PI-111, the first true topical muscle relaxant. PI-111 penetrates through the skin and works directly on the muscles without involving CNS. Hence, PI-111 does not have the side effects of oral muscle relaxants like drowsiness, headache, etc. Further, due to its local application, it provides relief in minutes, instead of overnight rest required for most oral muscle relaxants.
Proof of Concept
- Successful animal studies completed in 4 different animal models.
- Mechanism of action established.
- Anecdotal humans studies available.
Animal models utilized were Rota Rod Study, Open Field Study, Muscle Twitch Experiment in whole animal and Isolated Muscle Study - showing concentration-dependent relaxation.
Mechanism of action has been identified to be temporary inhibition of voltage gated sodium channel.
Anecdotal human exposure data available.