Pharmaleads Presents New Data Showing DENKIs, a New Class of Painkillers, to be Devoid of Abuse Potential and Opiate Side-Effects

PARIS, June 11, 2018 /PRNewswire/ --

Clinical and preclinical data demonstrating efficacy, safety and tolerability presented at the Annual International Conference on Opioids in Boston 

Pharmaleads, an emerging pharmaceutical company developing innovative non-opiate products for the management of acute and chronic severe pain, today announced new clinical and preclinical data showing the efficacy, safety and tolerability of its novel Dual ENKephalinase Inhibitors (DENKIs), PL265 and PL37. These data were presented by Pharmaleads and its collaborators from the University Paris Descartes, France, the Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona, Spain, and the University of Michigan, US at the International Conference on Opioids (ICOO2018) in Boston today.

"The data presented shows that PL265 and PL37 are devoid of any abuse potential even at high doses and after repeated administration while providing similar levels of pain relief to opiates, but without their side-effects," said Michel Wurm, VP Medical Affairs at Pharmaleads. "Our DENKIs have the potential to offer a solution to the opioid crisis by providing safe and non-addictive relief to patients suffering from multiple types of severe pain."

The data were presented in a poster discussion session and the poster can be found here.

Pharmaleads is developing PL265 for the oral treatment of neuropathic pain, inflammatory diseases of the bowel, osteoarthritis pain or topic treatment of ocular and inflammatory pain. PL37 is being developed for the treatment of post-surgical, traumatic and cancer pain as a substitute to injectable opiates.

About Pharmaleads

Pharmaleads is an emerging pharmaceutical company developing innovative products for the management of acute and chronic severe pain, a growing market with significant unmet medical need. Pharmaleads' drugs are based on its deep knowledge and understanding of enkephalins, a key element of the body's natural pain management system.

Pharmaleads' compounds, (Dual ENKephalinase inhibitors) DENKIs, aim to protect enkephalins, hence increasing their local concentrations and thereby inducing a physiological analgesia which improves pain management.

Pharmaleads has two compounds in clinical development which are targeting multi-billion markets:

PL265 is being developed for the treatment of neuropathic pain (oral) and ocular pain/dry eye syndrome (eye drops). PL37 is being developed for the treatment of post-surgical / traumatic / breakthrough cancer pain as a non-addictive substitute for injectable opiates (IV).

Pharmaleads is headquartered in Paris, France, and is funded by private investors.

For more information about Pharmaleads please visit www.pharmaleads.com

For more information, please contact:
Pharmaleads
Michel Wurm, MD, VP, Medical Affairs, Strategy and Business Development
michel.wurm@pharmaleads.com
+33-(0)-1-44-06-70 04
+33-(0)-6-09-97-81-04

Media Relations
Citigate Dewe Rogerson
Sylvie Berrebi, Marine Perrier, David Dible
pharmaleads@citigatedewerogerson.co.uk
Tel: +44-(0-20-7638-9571