Red Herring (online)
Pain Gain: Drug startup developing new approach to chronic pain
May 1, 2007 (link)

By Amy Coombs

Startup Solace Pharmaceuticals announced Tuesday it received $15 million in Series A funding to develop a chronic pain medication the company says will vanquish pain at its neurological roots.

Solace is backed by its parent company, Boston-based Puretech Ventures, and outside funders InterWest Partners and Polaris Venture Partners.

Dedicated solely to developing pain medication, Solace said its key drug works by restoring normal functions to cells that are part of the nervous system's communication mechanism. Solace's additional funding will enable it to push its drug through phase II trials, said Puretech founding partner Daphne Zohar.

"Our aim is to treat the underlying mechanistic cause of pain, not just the symptoms," said Dr. Allan Basbaum, professor and chair of anatomy at the University of California, San Francisco and member of the Solace advisory board.

Approximately 40 million people in the United States suffer from chronic pain, but pain treatments have not advanced for much of the last half of the twentieth century, Zohar said.

Solaris' Phase II drug aims helps restore the normal function of cells in the central nervous system that oversee communication between nerves. When these cells stop working, nerve cells can't connect and the patient experiences pain. Pain medications like Aspirin prevent enzymes from making compounds that cause pain and inflammation.

Puretech Ventures is the brain child of top medical researchers specializing in pain therapies. The parent company would not say who conducted Phase I trials for the medication now being developed by Solace.