Metabolic discovers pain reliever in snail venom

During preclinical trials of the toxin, now called ACV1, researchers from Metabolic Pharmaceuticals found it not only to be effective in treating pain in animal models of post-surgical and neuropathic pain, but also to speed up the rate of recovery from nerve injury. The company will begin clinical trials in humans later in June 2005 to firstly test the safety of the toxin in normal males, and later its effectiveness in treating the neuropathic pain associated with diabetes.

ACV1 has shown potential for treating neuropathic pain, that is, pain generated inside the body (arising in the nervous system) as opposed to the other type of pain, nociceptive pain, which comes from the outside in, for example, a burn. Neuropathic pain is often the most difficult pain to treat and responds poorly to traditional pain killers.

The toxin was first discovered in 2003 when scientists were studying the toxins produced in the venom of Conus victoriae, a marine cone snail found in tropical waters off the coast of Australia.

ACV1 is not the only therapeutic compound that cone snail venom has to offer. In fact, the venom is a cocktail of thousands of biologically active compounds of which only a few hundred have been identified.