People who have diabetes-related nerve damage do not appear to benefit from a synthetic version of human nerve growth factor, according to results of a new study. Findings from animal studies and smaller human studies had suggested that people with diabetic polyneuropathy--a nerve-damage disorder that results in numbness, weakness, and pain--might benefit from recombinant human nerve growth factor (rhNGF). The compound is a genetically engineered version of a naturally-occurring factor that plays a major role in the development and maintenance of the nervous system outside the brain and spinal cord.

In the new study, rhNGF did not improve the symptoms experienced by patients with diabetic polyneuropathy, according to Dr. Stuart Apfel from Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, New York and associates.

The researchers compared 418 patients who received injections of rhNGF three times a week for 48 weeks with 461 patients who received (inactive) placebo injections. The findings are published in the November 1st issue of The Journal of the American Medical Association.

"Overall, 31% of the patients improved, 38% worsened, and 31% remained unchanged (after rhNGF treatment)," the authors report. These results appeared to be slightly worse than those experienced by patients who received placebo.

Patients who received rhNGF were also much more likely to have pain or sensitivity at the injection site, muscle aches, and swelling than those who received placebo, the report indicates.

(From: The Journal of the American Medical Association 2000;284:2215-2221.)