Chronic Low Back Pain (cLBP) is a highly debilitating condition that significantly affects the quality of life of millions of people, most of whom are not helped by existing treatments, which target symptoms rather than underlying pathology. The lack of effective treatment options for patients often results in long-term reliance on analgesics, such as opioids, to manage pain.

Research by Persica’s founders demonstrated that high-dose oral antibiotics delivered over 100 days showed significant reduction on pain.¹  Persica is developing PP353, a groundbreaking and transformative treatment for cLBP with Modic changes associated with bacterial infection in vertebral discs.  PP353 is a patented, targeted intradiscal antibiotic injection that is delivered directly to the site of infection. It is designed to achieve superior antibiotic disc exposure, with just two injections, thereby reducing systemic side-effects, improving patient compliance and antibiotic stewardship.

PP353 is a non-opioid, one-off treatment which addresses an underlying cause of cLBP, rather than just the symptoms.

Our Phase 1b study, the Modic trial, showed statistically significant and clinically meaningful reductions in pain and disability. We are now in discussions with regulators about advancing to registrational trials.