Novel anti-Nav1.7 antibodies with long-lasting analgesic effect on neuropathic pain without sedation

Neuropathic pain is defined as a chronic disease caused by neurological injury or disease in peripheral and central nervous systems. Current analgesics are often inadequate due to the lack of efficacy and dose-limiting side effects [1]. The voltage-gated sodium channel Nav1.7 is primarily expressed in peripheral sensory neurons. Humans that lack the function of this channel are completely insensitive to pain [2]. Furthermore, several Nav1.7 inhibitors showed analgesic effect on neuropathic pain and erythromelalgia in clinical trials [3,4]. Nav1.7 inhibitor could therefore be a promising analgesic for a broad range of pain conditions. However, the development of Nav1.7 inhibitors has not yet been successfully progressed because small molecules are limited to have high selectivity due to high sequence similarity among Nav channel subtypes. Here, we present monoclonal antibodies which bind Nav1.7-specific extracellular domain and reduce pain behaviors and neuronal activity in spinal cord.