RespireRx Pharmaceuticals (OTC:RSPI) Inc, a pioneer in the field of neuronal signaling treatments, said its lead compound, KRM-II-81, has progressed to the next evaluation phase of the National Institutes for Health's HEAL Initiative's Preclinical Screening Platform for Pain (PSPP) program.
In doing so the compound demonstrated efficacy in reducing pain-like behaviors in rat models, covering both male and female subjects across various pain measures, underlining its potential to treat acute, chronic, and neuropathic pain without leading to tolerance or sedation.
KRM-II-81, a GABAA receptor potentiator, is being developed to provide pain relief without the harmful side effects commonly associated with opioids.
Meanwhile, the NIH HEAL Initiative is a comprehensive response to the opioid crisis launched in April 2018, aiming to improve prevention, treatment, and pain management strategies.
“We are excited to see the robust anti-pain efficacy of KRM-II-81, knowing the urgent need for non-opioid pain therapeutics. We continue to be impressed by the comparative ‘therapeutic index’ of this compound that we had predicted from earlier research,” said Dr Jeffrey Witkin, a senior research fellow with RespireRx.
As well as pain relief, KRM-II-81 has shown promising results in treatment-resistant epilepsy models and human translational studies, thereby positioning it as a versatile candidate for addressing a range of neurological disorders.