8% Capsaicin patch NGX-4010, now marketed as Qutenza, and was approved in the USA for treatment of Post herpetic Neuralgia (post shingles pain). One application can give some relief for a 1-3 months
NGX-4010, a High-Concentration Capsaicin Patch, for the Treatment of Postherpetic Neuralgia: A Randomized, Double-Blind, Controlled Study with an Open-Label Extension
Misha Miroslav Backonja, MD,* T. Philip Malan, MD,† Geertrui F. Vanhove, MD, PhD, Jeffrey K. Tobias, MD
Pain Medicine 2010; in press
Seeing as this product has already been released, full instructions are avaiable in pdf from here:
http://www.qutenza.com/_docs/qutenza_full_PI_.pdf
- they claim one application lasting an hour can give 3 months relief.
- “Patients were pretreated with a topical local anesthetic cream (ELA-Max®, lidocaine 4%; Ferndale Laboratories, Inc., Ferndale, MI) for 60 minutes before application of the study patch.”
- Maybe take oxycodone syrup prior to application.
- Do not use on face or broken skin
- Use only nitrile (not latex) gloves
- It comes in 14 cm x 20 cm (5.5 X 7.9 inches) – but two of them in a rolled up pack
- Unroll and apply
Comment – Results don’t look anywhere as good when you put in absolute pain levels rather than per cent improvement like they did in their article. A drop of two is impressive and so depending how expensive it is, could be useful. To bad can’t use on the face. The way the instructions are, you should almost sign a will before you use it, so it must be potent stuff, and I guess the skin is “delicate” for some days after application. There is a Canadian company scheduled to market it; I wonder when it will be approved here…
Apparently, “the wholesale acquisition cost for its pain patch, Qutenza at $675 for a one-patch treatment kit and $1,350 for a two-patch treatment kit”; well forget it…