EMA401, an orally administered highly selective angiotensin II type 2 receptor antagonist, as a novel treatment for postherpetic neuralgia: a randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled phase 2 clinical trial.

What Was Tested

Researchers studied Angiotensin II in this randomized controlled trial publication.

The angiotensin II type 2 receptor (AT2R) is a new target for neuropathic pain.

EMA401, a highly selective AT2R antagonist, is under development as a novel neuropathic pain therapeutic agent.

Who Took Part

The abstract describes 183 participants taking part.

By PubMed's age tags, the people studied were young adults, adults, middle-aged adults, older adults and people over 80, both men and women.

In this multicentre, placebo-controlled, double-blind, randomised, phase 2 clinical trial, the researchers enrolled patients (aged 22-89 years) with postherpetic neuralgia of at least 6 months' duration from 29 centres across six countries.

Patients and staff at each site were masked to treatment assignment.

How the Study Was Run

The design is described as randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled and multicenter.

Random assignment meant chance, not the researchers, decided who got Angiotensin II and who got the comparison, which limits bias.

As a double-blind Angiotensin II study, the assignments were hidden from both participants and investigators until the end.

A placebo (an inactive look-alike) gave the Angiotensin II group a baseline to be compared against.

Running at several centres spread the Angiotensin II study over different clinics and patient groups.

Randomisation was done according to a centralised randomisation schedule, blocked by study site, which was generated by an independent, unmasked statistician.

What Was Measured

The researchers assessed the therapeutic potential of EMA401 in patients with postherpetic neuralgia.

PubMed files the paper under topics including Angiotensin II Type 2 Receptor Blockers, Neuralgia, Postherpetic, Pain Measurement and Receptor, Angiotensin, Type 2.

What This Means in Plain Language

The paper is a randomized, double-blind and placebo-controlled study of Angiotensin II in 183 participants.

Results are reported in around 6 sentences of the abstract; we leave them to the paper itself rather than summarise them.

The publication is from 2014 (Lancet (London, England)), a journal based in England.

More context: the Angiotensin II compound page, all human trials.