Botox used in formation of new pain relief drug

A combination of Botox and tetanus could form the base of a new pain-relieving drug, says research published in Bioconjugate Chemistry.

A team of 22 scientists from 11 centres have developed a new way of joining and rebuilding molecules.

When they combined elements of Botox and tetanus toxin they found that the Botox part blocks pain signals and the tetanus part targets the central nervous system. The new drug could one day be used to treat chronic pain conditions.

“Currently painkillers relieve lingering pain only temporarily and often have unwanted side effects,” explains Prof Bazbek Davletov, who led the work. “A single injection of the new molecule at the site of pain could potentially relieve pain for many months in humans and this now needs to be tested.

To read the original research visit http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/bc4003103.