OLYS Pharma’s patented technology allows it to develop effective and differentiated products in multiple indications, for which neurogenic inflammation is an underlying source.

At this time, several projects constitute the innovations pipeline of OLYS Pharma. These projects are at various stages of development and will potentially provide the company with a continuous flow of new treatments for years to come.

OLYS Pharma currently develops a treatment for Diabetic Peripheral Neuropathic Pain (DPNP). It is a 1st line topical medical treatment whose particularity is to break the vicious pro-inflammatory cycle of neurogenic inflammation at the origin of neuropathic pain, by acting at the level of the Neuro-Immuno-Cutaneous-Endocrine system (NICE).

Neurogenic skin inflammation (CNI), caused by metabolic dysfunction in diabetic patients, manifests as an excessive release of neuropeptides such as calcitonin gene-linked peptide (CGRP) and tachykinins (mainly substance P, SP) in the skin from activated sensory nerve endings locally and antidromically.

The treatment aims to restore homeostasis of the NICE system, which allows restoration of the integrity and function of sensory neurons.

The DPNP treatment of OLYS Pharma is completing its preclinical phase.

Migraine is a severe and disabling brain condition, listed as the sixth most disabling disorder globally by the World Health Organization, and the most disabling of all neurological disorders. It directly affects more than a billion people worldwide.Unfortunately, its ranking is increasing with time. It has a one-year prevalence of 15-18% worldwide, if both episodic and chronic migraine are included, and has a huge financial burden on global economies.

Migraine predominantly affects females, 3:1, and significantly affects quality of life, in many cases during peak years of productivity. It is characterized by attacks of unilateral, throbbing head pain, with sensitivity to movement, visual, auditory, and other afferents inputs.

The neurons of the trigeminocervical complex are the main relay neurons for nociceptive afferent input from the meninges and cervical structures, therefore, they are the neural substrates of headache. Convergence of nociceptive afferents and sensitization of trigeminocervical neurons are two basic mechanisms important in headache physiology. They mediate the hypersensitivity and spreading processes and pain orientation commonly seen in patients with primary headaches, such as migraine.

Preliminary in vitro results in a co-culture model of wild-type (WT) rat primary neurons and Schwann cells pre-treated with ionic compound KY21 of OLYS Pharma 2 hours before intoxication with 12μM cisplatin for 24 hours, demonstrate that the ionic compound OLYS Pharma KY21 makes it possible to reduce the expression of NK1-R receptors in a highly significant manner, and therefore to potentially modulate pain.

Preliminary in vitro tests on Wistar rats neuron have demonstrated that a two-hour pre-treatment with the ionic compound OLYS Pharma KY21 significantly limits the release of TNFα from sensory neurons after injury with 12µM cisplatin for 6 hours.

Based on these preliminary data, OLYS Pharma wishes to explore the potential of its ionic compound KY21 in migraine pain by topical application to the neck.

A new line of research has been opened for the development of oral and parenteral treatments to treat pathologies involving inflammation and restore homeostasis. The company is developping treatments for acute systemic inflammatory responses and chronic inflammatory diseases, using a proprietary ionic complex.

• Sepsis – Status : preliminary results
• Chronic Inflamatory Bowel Disease (IBD) – Status : ongoing

This research is conducted by the company YNIOS PHARMA.