E!1512 ACTaNe

Purpose and goal

Individuals suffering from arthritis or cancer that has metastasized to bone report chronic pain both during active disease and when the disease is in remission. Long-term treatment with available pain-relieving drugs is often ineffective or associated with problematic side effects, and there is therefore a large unmet need of new therapeutics. The goal of this project is to establish, together with NETRIS Pharma, Nordic Biosciences and researchers at Universitet of Copenhagen, "proof of concept" for the antibody NP137 as a therapy for arthritis pain and cancer-induced bone pain.

Expected effects and result

NETRIS Pharma initially developed NP137, a humanized monoclonal antibody directed against netrin-1, to inhibit tumor growth. Pilot studies in our lab at KI show that NP137 reduces chronic pain caused by arthritis, and Heegaard´s group in Denmark found that NP137 reduces metastasis-induced pain. As NP137 was well tolerated in phase 1 clinical trials for cancer, the consortium hopes to enter phase 2 trials quickly after the project. The envisioned end product is the antibody NP137 as an efficient therapy for patients suffering from cancer-induced bone pain and arthritis pain.

Planned approach and implementation

The ACTaNet consortium was formed based on the finding that NP137 attenuates pain in experimental models. During the project, our group at the Karolinska Institutet will further investigate the efficacy and elucidate the mode-of-action of NP137 in two preclinical models of arthritis that represents rheumatoid arthritis and osteoarthritis. At the University of Copenhagen Heegaard’s group will undertake parallel studies with a focus on cancer-induced bone pain. Furthermore, Nordic Biosciences will search for relevant non-invasive biomarkers related to chronic pain.