Papers of the Week

Paradoxically, some TRPV1 agonists are, at the organismal level, both non-pungent and clinically useful as topical analgesics. Here, we describe the scaled-up synthesis and characterization in mouse models of a novel, non-pungent vanilloid. Potent analgesic ac-tivity was observed in models of neuropathic pain, and the compound blocked capsaicin induced allodynia, showing dermal accu-mulation with little transdermal absorption. Finally, it displayed much weaker systemic toxicity compared to capsaicin and was negative in assays of genotoxicity.