PainCeptor Pharma

PainCeptor Pharma is a private Canadian company focused on the development of drugs that act outside the central nervous system on nociceptors to treat pain.[1] The company was established in 2004 through the merger of two academic spinout firms: Antalium from McGill University and NeuroCeptor from Queens University.[2][3] At its inception, the company's primary operations were in Montreal and Kingston,[3] and it established a partnership with the Danish company NeuroSearch as part of its birth.[4]

About PainCeptor

The company's strategic focus was on peripheral rather than central-acting therapeutics is an attempt to avoid the known side effects of existing central-acting agents. The primary molecular targets addressed by PainCeptor are members of the ASIC ion channel family and nerve growth factor (NGF) and NGF receptors.[5] In 2006, the company secured funding from the Canadian Industrial Research Assistance Program.[6] In 2007, the company raised 24.4 million in venture capital funding in anticipation of starting first-in-man clinical trials that year; an initial round of funding had been secured in 2004 in the amount of 23 million.[7][4] As of 2007, the company conducted research out of the Steacie Institute for Molecular Sciences, a facility of Canada's National Research Council located in Ottawa, Quebec.[7]

Although PainCeptor refers to itself as a biopharmaceutical company on its website,[1] its two primary publicly reported drug discovery projects aim to deliver small molecule therapeutics.[5] According to AdisInsight, a drug information platform published by Springer Nature, the small-molecule antagonists program discontinued in 2009;[8] while development of a separate drug, PPC-5650 (an ASIC channel antagonist) had been discontinued by 2016.[9]

Intellectual property

According to one source, in 2006 the company was granted patent protection on antagonists of each of these receptor types.[10] Inspection of the patent applications, though, shows that no patents were, in fact, granted. In regard to US2005282840A1 "Methods of modulating neurotrophin-mediated activity", the application status was revised to 'abandoned' in 2009;[11] a second patent application, US2007123514A1, bearing the same title has also been noted to be 'abandoned' as of 2010.[12] Likewise, in regard to US2008004282A1 "Compositions and methods for modulating gated ion channels", the application status was revised to 'abandoned' in 2010.[13] Still another patent application was 'abandoned' in 2011, US2009082368A1 "Methods of Modulating Neurotrophin-mediated Activity".[14] One patent was actually granted to the firm, US2007191418A1 "Compositions and methods for modulating gated ion channels", in 2007; this patent transferred ownership to Aros Pharma in 2010, who subsequently did not keep up payment of maintenance fees, resulting in the status changing to 'lapsed' in 2018.[15]

Further reading

• Note that PainCeptor appears on the 'rest of the 25' listing below those companies that received a description including addressing information.
• Information about compound PPC-5650.