Prialt - Ziconotide - Dosage - Side Effects - Drug Interactions - Warnings

Prialt (ziconotide) dosage, side effects, drug interactions, and warnings. Prialt (ziconotide intrathecal infusion) has been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for the management of severe chronic pain in patients for whom intrathecal (IT) therapy (an implantable drug delivery system) is indicated. Prialt, generic name ziconotide, developed by scientists at Elan, is in a class of non-opioid analgesics known as N-type calcium channel blockers. Prialt works by targeting and blocking N-type calcium channels on nerves that ordinarily transmit pain signals.

• Drugs A-Z - Prialt / Ziconotide injection
• FDA Patient Information Sheet: Prialt / Ziconotide
• Prialt.com, from Elan Pharmaceuticals

Prialt (ziconotide) has its roots in a boy's curiosity about the deadly poisons inside the beautiful shells he collected in his native Philippines. Now a professor of biology at the University of Utah, Dr. Baldomero Olivera analyzes the highly toxic venoms of these cone snails. Prialt is derived from the venom of a poisonous sea snail. It is the culmination of decades of basic research supported by the National Institute of General Medical Sciences. Native to coral reefs in the Pacific Ocean, the 2-inch-long snail uses its venom to hunt fish. Some of the larger cone snails contain enough venom to kill a human with a single sting, according to the National Institutes of Health.

• Sea Snail Venom Yields Powerful New Painkiller (NIH)
• Secrets of the Killer Snails (NIGMS)

Candidates for Prialt may have severe pain for longer than six months from a variety of sources (such as failed back surgery, injury, nervous system disorders, AIDS, cancer, and more) and are not helped by or cannot use systemic analgesics, adjunctive therapies, or IT morphine. According to Clinical Pharmacology, "Ziconotide is only for injection into the space around the spinal cord. It can be given by a health care professional in a clinic or hospital setting. Patients usually have a special pump implanted into their back to maintain a continuous infusion into the spinal cord space"

• The Facts of Analgesics (Painkillers)
• Pain Relief Information
• More About Pain Killers

_{Photo Credit: Cone Snail Shells © National Institutes of Health}