Medivir Selects Neuropathic Pain Candidate

Medivir AB has selected MIV-247 as a candidate drug (CD) from its cathepsin S inhibitor project for the treatment of neuropathic pain. The CD will enter non-clinical development.

MIV-247 is a potent and highly selective inhibitor of cathepsin S. Cathepsin S has been shown to be an enzyme that is important for the maintenance of the neuropathic pain state, through its action in releasing fractalkine (a pro-inflammatory protein) in areas of the spinal cord important for pain sensation. Compounds from Medivir’s cathepsin S inhibitor project, including MIV-247, have shown good efficacy in experimental models of neuropathic pain, with no evidence of tolerance induction in longer-term studies.