One in five Americans grapple with chronic pain. The CDC reports that over 51 million Americans live with chronic pain, which is an alarmingly 20.9% of the country's population. Most people know someone or many people who are suffering. Even after countless visits to doctors, multiple therapies, and exploration into alternative medicine, many are still unable to manage their pain and get much-needed and deserved relief.
Fortunately, Achelios Therapeutics has developed a groundbreaking approach to pain management. Crist Frangakis, founder and CEO of Achelios, states, "Chronic pain has tremendous unmet needs, yet it has been largely abandoned by big pharma," Frangakis explains. By developing a topical drug delivery platform, Achelios solution allows for direct drug access to tissues instead of via ingestion or injection. This innovation holds promise in treating moderate to severe migraine, arthritis, joint pain, and many other conditions while circumventing the risks associated with opioid use and other drugs.
Frangakis' background leading up to Achelios includes leadership roles at prominent companies like Burroughs, Wellcome, Glaxo, Bayer, and Johnson & Johnson, where he spearheaded cardiovascular and metabolic drug discovery programs. Frangakis holds a Ph.D. in pharmacology and has authored numerous publications and patents. His understanding of cardiovascular health inspired him to develop a topical solution for migraines by targeting vasodilation of the vessels in the meninges that envelope the brain. Thus, Achelios Therapeutics was born.
Achetogel's Dynamic Delivery
Achelios's flagship product, AchetogelTM, stands out for its ability to deliver four to ten times more drugs through the skin than existing products. This enhanced permeation is coupled with sustained stability and protection against ultraviolet light degradation to ensure prolonged drug stability and efficacy.
Unlike traditional topical treatments that necessitate frequent application and high doses, Achelios's formulation allows for reduced drug usage and application frequency. Frangakis shares, "Because the currently used topical formulations are not drug specific for skin permeation, they require copious amounts of a drug/the gel to deliver enough drug to provide the necessary effect. One available product in the United States for the treatment of joint pain instructs patients to use 4 grams four times a day. That is a large amount of drug that you are putting on your skin. The topical formulation developed by Achelios achieves greater pain relief by doing it once or twice a day. That's a big plus for the patient regarding convenience, cost, and reduced risk of side effects. With our product, you apply it once in the morning and once in the afternoon, and that's it."
Formulating Achetogel
Frangakis shares that Achetogel consists of various excipients aimed at improving drug permeation. The approach we have taken to accelerate the permeation of drugs through the skin is "Neutralizing the ionic charges of drugs applied to the skin to enhance their ability to penetrate through the skin barrier." Frangakis adds, "The developed Achetogel(TM) formulation platform can be selectively modified to enhance the permeation of different drugs. To do so, we slightly modify the formulation's composition to reach the desired neutralization of the drug's surface charges. So, the formulation for diclofenac is slightly different from that of an antiviral formulation because each molecule's physicochemical and ionic charges are different, and we must add a different number of certain excipients. Essentially, our patented platform is designed to enhance drug permeation of most drugs that in themselves do not permeate the skin when applied topically, which is most available drugs."
The Proof Is In
Thus far, Achelios's products have demonstrated significant benefits in alleviating joint and muscle pain and acute, chronic, and episodic menstrual migraines. Patient testimonials and clinical studies showcase improved quality of life and reduced reliance on opioids for its users in clinical studies.
"There are roughly 50 million Americans who have arthritis, with 35 million suffering from severe arthritis. And those are individuals that have pain every day. What do they do right now for that arthritis? They take Advil or Aleve at very high concentrations. Now, the problem with that is that you cannot take those drugs for a long period of time because, after two weeks, you start getting severe side effects. The most prevalent side effect of chronic NSAID use is gastrointestinal complications with the result of prolonged bleeding and, in many instances, death."
Frangakis notes that those individuals are the ideal candidates to use the gel because they can deliver the drug directly to the pain. "If your knee hurts, you apply it there, and within 30 to 60 minutes, they will start experiencing relief of pain." He adds that another significant advantage to their product is that only a minimal amount of the drug is needed because of its targeted application to the area in pain. Patients, therefore, don't have to worry about high concentrations of drugs. "They can apply this twice daily for the rest of their lives if they want to."
Promising Efficacy with Migraines and Beyond
Achelios and Frangakis also see great promise in their product for migraine sufferers. This is excellent news for the 10% of the global population affected by migraines. "It works well. However, we discovered that applying the drug in a specific area near the mandibular joint and the ear one hour before the pain manifests itself gives you significant efficacy in eliminating or greatly reducing the pain intensity of the forthcoming migraine. Of course, predicting when a patient will have a migraine is not a precise science, so we are currently exploring conducting a study on menstrual migraine. These individuals can track which day they are likely to have a migraine. So they apply it once in the morning, once in the evening to prevent the migraine from coming on."
Achelios has spent two years working to overcome regulatory challenges, including skin irritation and drug sun sensitivity that leads to light-mediated skin irritation caused by the degradation products of the drug when it is broken down by UV light. "We have achieved what the FDA wanted, giving us the go-ahead. We are moving forward, and we expect to have the first product in the market in 2025, and then the prescription product, which is a high-dose product in the market in 2027."
Achelios's patented platform also holds immense potential beyond its products. "We see our product benefitting many chronic pain conditions beyond arthritis and migraines," Frangakis asserts. "We are ready and actively seeing collaborations with other companies to advance topical drug delivery further."
Visit their website to learn more about Achelios Therapeutics, AchetogelTM, and its founder, Crist Frangakis, and to join the movement to help millions of people move from living in pain to simply living.
Join the Conversation