Chronic Neuropathic & Postoperative Pain Management

Ferdia’s goal is to develop a long-acting peptide therapeutic for chronic neuropathic and postoperative pain. The therapeutic could be administered by infusion at the time of surgery to provide up to one week of analgesia, or by once-weekly subcutaneous injections for chronic or neuropathic pain management.

Fer-176, our lead asset, has shown sustained efficacy in preclinical models of inflammatory and postoperative pain, with pharmacokinetics supporting once-weekly dosing in humans. In the CFA rat model (figure), Fer-176 provided over 24 hours of analgesia, demonstrated by improved thresholds in the Von Frey hypersensitivity test. In contrast, indomethacin and J-2156, a short-acting SSTR4 agonist, provided only short-term relief.