These SNPs can be used to stratify women with chronic pain and inform which medications they should be treated with. The SNPs can also be used to investigate the disease mechanisms underlying chronic pain – ultimately providing an opportunity for the discovery or development of new therapeutics for chronic pain.
Application
This technology uses genetic markers to predict the responsiveness of women with chronic pelvic pain to Gabapentin.
Development Status
IP Status
PCT patent filed in November 2023.
Commercial Offerings
License to the patent rights for further development of the technology.
Opportunity
Chronic pain carries a high personal and economic disease burden, with a prevalence rate of over 30% which continues to rise. Gabapentin is one of the most prescribed treatments for chronic pain but is frequently associated with non-responsiveness and poor side effects. The single nucleotide polymorphism identified enables the identification of responders to pain relief treatment. This can provide a greater understanding of biological mechanisms underlying chronic pain pathways that may differ between patients, offering wider implications for discovering druggable targets for personalised pain treatment strategies.
Technology
The genome-wide association study conducted in women with chronic pain in the pelvis has revealed that responders to Gabapentin treatment have a decrease in a single polynucleotide polymorphism (SNP) in the Neuregulin 3 (NRG3) locus. In this way, the SNP enables the identification of patients who may best benefit from Gabapentin treatment and offers insights into the pain pathways related to NRG3 that are being targeted.
Benefits
Quote: TEC1104484
Women who carry a particular form of a pain gene are more likely to respond well to a common medication used to treat long-term discomfort, research shows.
Technology Transfer Manager
Edinburgh Innovations Ltd
The University of Edinburgh
