Phosphagenics reports pain relief

Phosphagenics has completed a Phase I trial for its drug delivery system TPM to deliver lidocaine topically.

The trial, to assess the bioavailability, safety and tolerability of the application, found the formulation was able to deliver more of the pain relief drug to the skin compared to a leading commercial product, Xylocaine, marketed by AstraZeneca.

The open label, single centre study was conducted at the Centre for Pharmaceutical Research at the University of South Australia in 11 healthy adult volunteers.

TPM is being trialled in a number of small molecule delivery applications, including hormones, morphine and oxycodone. It is also being expanded to large molecule applications, such as peptides.

The company’s lead product is Phospha E, a vitamin E derivative it is exploring as a neutraceutical.