CeNeS announces the publication of an important independent review of its lead product, M6G

CeNeS Pharmaceuticals plc (AIM: CEN) the Cambridge based biopharmaceutical company today announced that an important review of its lead product morphine-6-glucuronide (M6G) has been published in the international journal ‘Anesthesia and Analgesia’.

The review, entitled ‘Morphine-6-Glucuronide: Morphine’s Successor for Postoperative Pain Relief?’ was written by the leading researcher, Professor Albert Dahan, and his team at the University of Leiden in the Netherlands. It indicates that currently available data demonstrate M6G’s efficacy as well as its improved safety profile when compared to morphine.

The authors provide a comprehensive analysis of the available data on the site of action, disposition and elimination, analgesic properties and side effect profile of M6G in comparison to morphine. They conclude:

“In clinical studies, M6G is well tolerated and produces adequate and long lasting postoperative analgesia. At analgesic doses, M6G causes similar reduction of the ventilatory response to C02 as an equianalgesic dose of morphine but significantly less depression of the hypoxic ventilatory response (i.e. less respiratory depression). Preliminary data indicate that M6G is associated less than morphine with nausea and vomiting, causing 50% and 75% less nausea in postoperative and experimental settings respectively.”

Neil Clark, CEO of CeNeS commented: “We are delighted to see this positive review on M6G being published in a respected, peer-reviewed, scientific journal. The authors bring together the published data on M6G, demonstrating its attractive efficacy and improved side-effect profile. They also note that more studies are necessary before we may conclude definitively that M6G is superior to morphine for postoperative analgesia. Our current phase III trial is designed to do exactly that and is comparing the performance of M6G against morphine in a large patient population to establish statistically that M6G has equivalent analgesia to morphine but reduced potential to cause nausea and vomiting.

If this trial is successful CeNeS will have taken a major step forward in the development of M6G as a product replacement for morphine in the significant post-operative pain market.