LTG-001, an investigational drug, reduced acute pain scores after abdominoplasty in a phase IIb trial.The high-dose of the sodium channel blocker was associated with significantly lower opioid use after surgery.Peripheral Nav1.8 blockers like LTG-001 may help manage pain with little to no risk of addiction.
The sodium channel blocker LTG-001, an investigational selective Nav1.8 inhibitor, reduced pain scores more than placebo for 2 days after abdominoplasty, a phase IIb trial showed.
The primary endpoint was the time-weighted sum of the pain intensity difference over a 48-hour treatment period (SPID48), based on numeric pain rating scale scores, which range from 0 to 10. Higher SPID48 values indicate greater pain reduction.
The mean SPID48 was 161.05 in the low-dose LTG-001 group, 185.30 in the high-dose LTG-001 group, 164.08 in the group treated with hydrocodone bitartrate-acetaminophen (Vicodin), and 123.22 in the placebo group, reported Neil Singla, MD, of Latigo Biotherapeutics in Thousand Oaks, California, and colleagues, in the New England Journal of Medicine.
Mean SPID48 differences between LTG-001 and placebo were significant for both the low dose (37.82, P=0.003) and the high dose (62.08, P<0.001). The mean SPID48 difference between hydrocodone bitartrate-acetaminophen and placebo was 40.86.
