Article about NOLabs in Arab Health March-April 2009

NOLabs AB

, the Swedish company developing innovative nitric oxide-containing medical devices based on the NitroSense® Technology, has achieved another important milestone in the development of a new line of products where a topical administration of NO has the potential of becoming a new treatment concept for neuropathic pain in diabetics. Significant unmet clinical need for diabetic patients and more than 200 million people suffer from diabetes globally.

Peripheral diabetic neuropathy is one of the most common late complications. It is frequently associated with pain, involving predominantly the lower limbs. Current options for treatment of neuropathic pain are analgesics, tricyclic compounds, topical capsicin and anticonvulsants. They are not optimal and side effects are often experienced by many patients.

"Our patch provides topical delivery of NO, so the side effects are extremely limited," says CEO Mr. Göran Beijer.

He also estimates that the annual cost of treating each patient using NOLabs' patch will be around 500-700 Euros per year, which he believes to be significantly lower than the cost of some of the new high-strength analgesics used to treat patients.

Preliminary result is available from an on-going study with diabetic, type-2, patients suffering from painful neuropathy. Ten patients, included in an open phase of the study, were treated by applying a NO-eluting patch (NitroSense® Technology) for three hours to the dorsal part of each foot three times per week during three consecutive weeks. Pain score assessments (Visual Analogue Scale, Present Pain Index and Point Lickert Scale) were done prior to startof treatment and directly after completion of the three weeks treatment.

The overall preliminary result from these ten patients shows a mean reduction in pain score (combined VAS, PPI andPLS) of about 56 percent.