By Elissa Ritt, M.A.S.
It is estimated that about 20 million people in the United States suffer from peripheral neuropathy. Due to diabetes, cancer and HIV alone, it is expected that the number of people with peripheral neuropathy will increase by more than 10 percent within the next few years. A cure for peripheral neuropathy and its pain, tingling and numbness has been extremely difficult to come by. Although treatments do exist to reduce the bothersome and painful symptoms, they are not always effective, and a cure has been elusive so far.
In 2007, the Foundation for Peripheral Neuropathy was created. The foundation’s mission is to bring scientists and physicians together to work on finding a potential cure. To help facilitate this collaboration, the foundation just held its International Research Symposium titled “Designing Innovative Therapies for Neuropathic Pain.”
The goal of this meeting was to offer a forum for scientists and physicians to discuss the challenges of finding effective treatments for peripheral neuropathy, designing clinical trials to help determine the efficacy of these treatments and, ultimately, finding a cure.
The meeting attendees acknowledged that there are specific obstacles that exist that may block the path to the treatment and cure of peripheral neuropathy.
These include:
• The mechanisms of nerve degeneration are not well understood.
• It is difficult to study this condition in animals, and as a result, treatments that work in animals might not work in humans.
• Clinical trials for potential peripheral neuropathy treatments usually suffer from a very high “placebo effect.”
• The social aspects of peripheral neuropathy need to be addressed as well. For example, a patient might feel well while lying down, but that same person might not want to leave the house in order to avoid his or her symptoms.
To facilitate the study of peripheral neuropathy and to address the challenges listed above, the Foundation for Peripheral Neuropathy has created the Peripheral Neuropathy Research Registry, or PNRR. This registry will allow physicians and researchers to share information about patients with peripheral neuropathy with the goal of developing diagnostics, treatments and, eventually, a cure.
To learn more about the Foundation for Peripheral Neuropathy, PNRR, or how you might be able to help the foundation in its mission, visit www.foundationforpn.org.
