Papers of the Week

First-line pharmacotherapy for neuropathic pain entails the use of systemic antidepressants and anticonvulsants. These drugs are not optimally effective and poorly tolerated, especially for older patients with comorbid conditions. Given the high number of such patients, there is a need for a greater repertoire of safer and more effective analgesics. Clonidine and pentoxifylline are vasodilator agents that work synergistically to enhance tissue perfusion and oxygenation. The topical administration of these drugs, individually and in combination, has shown anti-nociceptive properties in rodent models of neuropathic pain. A topically-administered combination of clonidine and pentoxifylline also effectively reduced the intensity of both spontaneous and evoked pain in healthy volunteers with experimentally-induced neuropathic pain. The next step in advancing this formulation to clinical use is the undertaking of a phase II clinical study to assess its efficacy and safety in neuropathic pain patients.