A Research Consortium Under the Direction of Grünenthal Will Receive a Grant of €1.5 million From the European Fund for Regional Development and the Federal State of North Rhein-Westphalia

AACHEN, Germany, September 27, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --

• Research grant awarded by Leitmarktwettbewerb LifeSciences.NRW to improve the development of new analgesic drugs 
• The consortium members, founded and led by Grünenthal, are from the University Hospitals of Cologne and Bonn, and a specialist scientific company, Life & Brain 

The LifeSciences.NRW called for consortia of small and medium-sized companies and academic groups within North Rhein-Westphalia to compete in making proposals for developing solutions to solve current challenges within the field of biomedical sciences. Of the 51 submissions, the project of the consortium under the direction of Grünenthal was also considered worthy of funding. This proposal, entitled NeuRoWeg, was developed together with the University Hospitals in Cologne and Bonn, and a small specialist company, Life & Brain in Bonn, and will be supported with a grant of €1.5 million over the next three years. The aim is to improve the treatment of patients suffering from neuropathic pain, as this is only inadequately managed with currently available therapeutic agents. 

The € 1.5 million funding by the EU and the State of NRW will be used to support research into the molecular basis of neuropathic pain, and to develop novel test systems which will allow the efficacy of new analgesics for patients to be assessed more accurately and rapidly. This is reflected in the title of the NeuRoWeg project, "Innovative test systems for identifying curative analgesics with reliable efficacy in patients".

Neuropathic pain arises as a result of nerve injury caused by diseases such as diabetes, or by chemotherapy, or by accidents or surgery. It is suffered by approximately 7% - 10% of the general population^[1], a very large number of people, and its incidence increases with age, especially in women.

Dr. Klaus-Dieter Langner, Chief Scientific Officer of Grünenthal, said, "I am looking forward to the results of this research project. I am also delighted that with the University Hospitals of Cologne and of Bonn, and with Life & Brain, we will have excellent partners within NRW at our side to jointly improve the prospects for developing better drug therapies for patients suffering from neuropathic pain."