# Research horizons: Nav1.7 channel **URL:** \ **Category:** General\ **Created:** [April 24, 2017, 1:50am UTC](https://forum.livingwithfacialpain.org/t/research-horizons-nav1-7-channel/13433 "2017-04-24T01:50:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 2\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![haach76](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/2bfe46/32.png) [@haach76](https://forum.livingwithfacialpain.org/u/haach76)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2017, 1:50am UTC](https://forum.livingwithfacialpain.org/t/research-horizons-nav1-7-channel/13433/1 "2017-04-24T01:50:47Z")
Hi folks, I recently read an article about medical research in pain management : > **[How a Single Gene Could Become a Volume Knob for Pain](https://www.wired.com/2017/04/the-cure-for-pain/)** > > Harnessing rare genetic mutations could help end America's opioid epidemic. They talk about this “Nav 1.7” channel as being the current target for drug therapies in pain management. You can read more about it here: > **[Nav1.7 | Future prospects](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nav1.7#Future_prospects)** > > As the Nav1.7 channel appears to be a highly important component in nociception, with null activity conferring total analgesia, there has been immense interest in developing selective Nav1.7 channel blockers as potential novel analgesics. Since Nav1.7 is not present in heart tissue or the central nervous system, selective blockers of Nav1.7, unlike non-selective blockers such as local anesthetics, could be safely used systemically for pain relief. Moreover, selective Nav1.7 blockers may p A numbe... I did some more research to see if this is being researched for TN pain medication and sure enough there was a medication that just finished going through clinical trials, the “BIIB074” molecule was being investigated for this purpose. Here is the clinical trial link: > **[Efficacy and Safety Study of BIIB074 in Participants With Trigeminal Neuralgia...](https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT03070132)** > > Efficacy and Safety Study of BIIB074 in Participants With Trigeminal Neuralgia - Full Text View. Initially I believe a company called “Convergence” was working on this, and they later got bought by Biogen Pharma. Anyhoo, here is the current result of the clinical trials: [http://thelancet.com/journals/laneur/article/PIIS1474-4422(17)30005-4/fulltext](http://thelancet.com/journals/laneur/article/PIIS1474-4422(17)30005-4/fulltext) The paper is not open for downloading but you can read the abstract, and the conclusion is that: “The primary endpoint of treatment failure was not significantly lower in the BIIB074 group than in the placebo group. However, our findings provide a basis for continued investigation of BIIB074 in patients with trigeminal neuralgia in future clinical trials.” I think we should be hopeful. Even though this BIIB074 seems to have failed, there is a lot of research activity going on in addressing pain via the Nav 1.7 channel. I forgot to mention, this is is something for us to be excited about since a Nav1.7-selective, state-dependent sodium-channel blocker, such as BIIB074 could potentially be more effective with less side effects than the current medications used for TN. There is great research being conducted that has huge implication for us! Hope yall having a great weekend. H ---
**Author:** ![venicomb](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex027/user_avatar/forum.livingwithfacialpain.org/venicomb/32/6207_2.png) [@venicomb](https://forum.livingwithfacialpain.org/u/venicomb)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2017, 3:33pm UTC](https://forum.livingwithfacialpain.org/t/research-horizons-nav1-7-channel/13433/2 "2017-04-29T15:33:57Z")
I won’t pretend to understand 99% of this article but it is so heartening to hear that there are people out there who are investigating TN pain. Sometimes I get so depressed when I hear news of progress made in other fields, that I can not fathom living with TN for the next 20 or 30 years.