I-Corps: Injectable extended release local anesthetic for the treatment of post-operative pain

University Of Utah, Salt Lake City UT

Investigators

Abstract

The broader impact/commercial potential of this I-Corps project is to provide a safe and effective non-opioid therapeutic for the control of post-operative pain that could eliminate the need for prescription opioids after surgery. Surgery is a critical point where patients are at risk of developing or worsening opioid-misuse disorders. The opioid crisis in the US and around the world is a significant public health concern. In the US, opioid overdoses have tripled since 1999, with the number of opioid prescriptions quadrupling. Prescription opioids are a major driver of addiction and adverse events. Current options for non-opioid local control of pain after a surgical procedure operation are limited. The public health implications of prescription opioids are significant, with 10% of patients going on to long-term use after surgery, and a cost of $78 billion to the United States health care system annually. Over 14,000 people die of prescription opioid misuse per year. As the number of procedures performed per year increases, and as outpatient surgery becomes more prevalent, improving control of post-operative pain can have a significant and increasing impact on rising health-care costs. This I-Corps project seeks to further develop a novel prolonged duration local anesthetic formulation for control of post-operative pain. The proposed innovation would be off-the-shelf, ready-to-use, and provide safe and effective local anesthesia for longer duration after administration. It will be in the form of an injectable bioresorbable gel that provides prolonged release of FDA-approved local anesthetic drug bupivacaine. In vitro drug release testing found that the innovation can provide a sustained release of bupivacaine for multiple days. The proposed innovation provided greater levels of anesthesia (greater paw withdrawal latencies) for a longer duration than both clinical standard control groups. The proposed innovation may provide significant clinical advantages over current clinical options for local management of surgical pain such as greater anesthetic/analgesic effect, duration of effect, and novel intuitive route of administration. This formulation has the potential to eliminate the need for prescription opioids after surgery by providing safe and effective non-opioid management of acute postoperative pain. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.