BRIEF—EicOsis gets $15 million grant to help fund trials of non-opioid pain therapy

The National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) has awarded a grant to EicOsis as part of the  NIH initiative Helping to End Addiction Long-Term (HEAL Initiative) to support human clinical trials of a novel compound that has been found effective for the treatment of pain in pre-clinical animal studies.

Dr Bruce Hammock, EicOsis chief executive and founder, and his team aim to provide a new analgesic solution for neuropathic pain management without the side effects of standard pain therapies.

The innovative method used to target pain originated in the laboratory of Dr Hammock at the University of California, Davis.

The drug candidate, known as EC5026, works to inhibit soluble epoxide hydrolase (sEH), a key enzyme in the metabolism of fatty acids.

Inhibition of sEH treats pain by stabilizing natural analgesic and anti-inflammatory mediators.