Shingles (herpes zoster) is a painful viral infection that is caused by the chicken pox virus that remains dormant in your body for many years. Anyone who has had the chicken pox could, at some time, develop shingles.
The rash caused by the shingles follows along a nerve line in the body, so you could have it along the belt line, but only on one side, for example. Some people have it on the face and near the eye – again only on one side – while others may have it around their ear. The blisters vary from being very painful …read more

Shingles (herpes zoster) is a very painful virus that affects the nerve endings. Typically, a shingles rash will follow the pathline of a particular nerve, in areas like the waist band, face, and shoulder. Researchers estimate that every year, a half a million people in the United States develop shingles.
As if shingles isn’t bad enough, many people, particularly those over 60 years, develop a very painful condition called post herpetic neuralgia, a type of nerve pain along where the shingles occurred.
Nerve pain, neuralgia, is a very difficult pain to treat. While some people see the PHN ease off, some still …read more

DURECT Receives Orphan Drug Designation for Bupivacaine for Post-Herpetic Neuralgia
CUPERTINO, Calif., June 30 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ — Durect Corporation announced today that the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted to Durect orphan drug designation for bupivacaine for relief of persistent pain associated with post-herpetic neuralgia (PHN). Bupivacaine is the active pharmaceutical ingredient in Eladur(TM), Durect’s investigational transdermal drug patch. If Eladur is the first bupivacaine product approved for PHN, under the 1983 Orphan Drug Act Eladur will receive seven years of market exclusivity following the approval of the product by the FDA.
Eladur is an …read more

Shingles (herpes zoster), a painful virus that lasts a few weeks in most people, can leave behind a life-time of pain and discomfort in some people. The estimated number is 20% of people who have shingles will develop this problem, called postherpetic neuralgia.
What is postherpetic neuralgia
Shingles is caused by the same virus that gave you the chicken pox. If you haven’t had the chicken pox, you can’t develop shingles. After the chicken pox goes away, the virus that caused it remains in your body and – for most people – never causes another problem.
However, in some people, the virus …read more