Sea Snail Toxin Offers Promise For Pain

Khyber writes to tell us about research out of Australia that holds out hope for chronic pain sufferers. The toxin of a sea snail, called conotoxin, has a component that has been shown to directly target pain receptors in experimental animals. Unlike essentially all existing pain relievers, conotoxin seems to suppress pain without side effects. Human trials are a year away.

Comments

Wow..

[FunWithKnives]

This could be great for people like me. I suffered a lower-lumbar spinal fracture almost seven months ago. The doctors tell me that, essentially, I have to deal with chronic neck and lower back pain for the rest of my life. I take opiate-based pain medicine twice a day for it. The stuff wigs me out sometimes, though, and I slog through the day in somewhat of a fog. Not good for a college student. Hopefully this will make it to the market, and I can finally get some pain relief without getting "high".