A/Prof Dr Marc Russo and co-authors recently published an article on Ambroxol in PAIN – the leading journal for pain medicine and research.

The article presents a narrative review of Ambroxol as a potential neuropathic pain drug.

Ambroxol is an old drug used to treat respiratory tract conditions and sore throat. Interestingly, recent evidence shows that it can also treat chronic neuropathic pain due to its local anaesthetic, anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, and neuro-protective actions.

Benefits have been shown in animal models and in patients with various chronic neuropathic pain conditions or neuropathic pain type symptoms, including trigeminal neuralgia, complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS), fibromyalgia, and more.

While more studies are needed to support Ambroxol for clinical use as a neuropathic pain drug, it is hoped that the review article will stimulate more research and encourage the pharmaceutical industry to consider developing an optimised version of Ambroxol for this purpose.

Dr Russo initiated and led the production of the manuscript.

He believes that Ambroxol is a drug worthy of repurposing for the treatment of neuropathic pain, given that it's an old drug, with a well-established safety profile, and growing evidence of beneficial effects.

You can read the article here