A Breakthrough Radiotracer for Pain Imaging

Identify, Localize, & Quantify Pain Biomarkers

A tool to see the tissues generating chronic pain

Chronic pain remains an area of substantial unmet medical need, affecting millions yet lacking effective diagnostic and therapeutic solutions. A major advance in this space has the potential to profoundly improve care and outcomes for countless patients suffering from chronic pain syndromes.

PainVox’s innovative PET radiotracer technology represents such a breakthrough. In early clinical trials this radiopharmaceutical located occult pain generators across a variety of conditions, providing actionable insights to aid planning and guide targeted treatment.

  • In over one hundred difficult-to-treat cases, PainVox's radiotracer PV-1 enabled doctors to redirect treatments and improving efficacy of those therapies.

  • PV-1 also reduced costs by facilitating more precise and effective care.

By illuminating the underlying source of pain, this technology promises to transition the field from reliance on short-term palliative medications and hit-or-miss procedures to curative solutions that address specific pathological pain drivers. PainVox is generating robust clinical data that will convince healthcare providers to replace MRI with PET/MR and our paradigm-changing precision in standard chronic pain care pathways.

Precision targeting of sites of origin of pain has the potential to alleviate suffering for patients who have tried multiple other options, improving quality of life as well as clinical and financial outcomes. This represents a breakthrough to address the pain / opioid crisis.

Early, Promising Results in Finding and Treating Pelvic Pain in Patients

“All five patients showed abnormally increased radioligand uptake on PET compared to healthy controls at various organs, including the uterus, vagina, pelvic bowel, gluteus maximus muscle, and liver. However, on MRI, only 2 patients showed abnormalities that could be potentially associated with the pain symptoms.

For a subset of patients, the association of pain and the abnormally increased radioligand uptake was further validated by successful pain relief outcomes following surgery or trigger point injections to the identified abnormalities. “

Case Study - Diagnostic Imaging

Diffuse Pain for Decades

55 year old male with 4/10 chronic pain in right leg from hip to foot. No substantial relief despite decades of seeing specialists, multiple MRIs and X-rays, getting shots, meditation, yoga, and spending months in physical therapy.

A PainVox scan indicated origin of pain in an unexpected location - at the sustentaculum tali in the ankle.

Patient Statement

“The pain radiating from my hip to foot finally had a source location. Knowing the location allowed me to manage my ankle better and get the right care right there. Initially I was surprised when they told me the pain’s location because I didn't report ankle pain. Then I realized that I had had a childhood fall there that for decades I've been compensating for."

Case Study - Imaging Before Surgery to Diagnose Pain and Imaging After Surgery to Confirm Complete Recovery

PV-1 enables objective identification and visualization of painful tissue - not available until now and only possible with PV-1 using PET/MR Imaging. Patients have been successfully treated with treatments indicated by PV-1 precision pain imaging.

Post-treatment, doctors can follow up to confirm patient reports of pain resolution.

Before Surgery:

  • Surgeon was out of options for a patient with 10 out of 10 pain after prior ACL restoration and meniscus removal.

  • PV-1 uptake indicated synovial fibrosis requiring surgical removal.

After Surgery:

  • Substantially reduced PV-1 uptake (at a background level) corresponding to painful tissue removed. 

  • Patient reports complete pain relief & return to normal activity.

Tremendous Unmet Need

The current standard of care for diagnosing pain (MRI, X-rays, CT, ultrasound, EMG, clinical exam, etc) has low sensitivity and poor accuracy, the extent to which leads to mismanagement of pain patients: misguided interventions, imprecise or unnecessary surgeries, or systemic medication when a cure was otherwise available.

Diagnostic Ligand

PainVox’s radioligand enables accurate detection of the molecular underpinnings of pain specifically pinpoints pro-nociceptive pathology by binding to Sigma-1 Receptors.

A Mission to Partner with Visionaries

PainVox seeks leading researchers and visionary industry leaders to partner with to address the pain crisis. We believe that visualizing pain generators - quantified and objective - will open up new innovation and solutions to address the pain crisis in the US and the world.

Interested in partnering with PainVox? Reach out.

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