Papers of the Week

Pain is one of the major public health burdens worldwide, however, conventional analgesics are often ineffective. Capsaicin -the active compound of Capsicum species, being responsible for their pungency – has been part of traditional medicine long ago. Capsaicin is a natural agonist of the Transient Receptor Potential Vanilloid 1 receptor – localized on capsaicin-sensitive sensory neurons and strongly involved in pain transmission -, and has been in focus of analgesic drug research for many years. In this study, we aimed to develop a sustained release transdermal patch (transdermal therapeutic system, TTS) combining the advantages of low-concentration capsaicin and diclofenac embedded in an innovative structure, as well as to perform complex preclinical investigations of its analgesic effect.