Introduction: Pruritus is a debilitating symptom that significantly affects the quality of life of patients who suffer from it. Many current and emerging systemic treatments targeting the neural system have been successful in treating itch of various underlying etiologies.
Areas covered: A complete search of the PUBMED and Google Scholar databases was completed and literature pertinent to current and emerging systemic anti-pruritic drugs which target the neural system was compiled. The purpose of this review is to give the reader with an overview of the current and emerging systemic therapeutic options which target the neural system for chronic pruritus. The authors then provide the reader with their expert perspectives on the future of these therapies.
Expert opinion: Exciting new anti-pruritic therapies targeting the neural system which show promise include NK-1 inhibitors, opioid receptor modulators, and drugs targeting specific itch receptors such as Mrgpr, Nav1.7, and PAR2, as well as selective GABA modulators. Future studies should be conducted in order to fully understand these exciting therapeutic options.
Keywords: Itch; nerves; opioid; pruritus; receptor; sensitization; systemic.