Pipeline-in-a-Product
A single-platform therapeutic with the potential to generate multiple therapeutic candidates across painful conditions and urology
Our Pipeline
Relevium Medical is developing a pipeline of targeted, highly selective neuron-targeting therapies designed to be administered via injectable, instillation, and topical routes, each engineered to silence pain signaling at its source while avoiding the systemic side effects associated with conventional analgesics.
RESEARCH
PRECLINICAL
PRE-IND
CLINICAL
RM-010: Osteoarthritis
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OVERVIEW:
RM-010 is Relevium’s lead therapeutic candidate: a novel, non-opioid prodrug for intra-articular injection into the knee joint. It works by selectively targeting TRPV1 to desensitize pain-signaling nerve fibers at their source.
THE PROBLEM WITH TRPV1 AGONISTS TO DATE:
TRPV1 has long been recognized as a clinically validated target for chronic pain, with numerous studies achieving statistically significant results in clinical trials and FDA precedent for transdermal use. Yet its translation has been held back by one persistent problem: severe burning on administration. Activating TRPV1 initially excites the very sensory fibers it is meant to desensitize, producing intense discomfort during and after dosing. This tolerability problem has:
Limited achievable dosing, constraining durable efficacy
Driven high patient dropout rates in clinical studies
Required elaborate, time-consuming administration protocols
Limited patient acceptance and adherence
OUR SOLUTION: RM-010:
RM-010 is a new chemical entity (NCE) prodrug, engineered specifically to solve the TRPV1 tolerability problem. Built from naturally occurring biopolymers, it uses tailored kinetic-release chemical bonds - rather than a delivery device or reformulated release mechanism - that cleave gradually over 24 hours, releasing the active agent precisely where it is needed. Because release is governed at the molecular level, rather than through bulk diffusion or bolus dosing, there is no rapid burst and no associated burning sensation. Pain signaling is silenced at the source, providing relief for months.
KEY ADVANTAGES:
No dose ceiling: adequate dosing and greater residency time at the target site enable more effective ablation and superior relief than conventional TRPV1 agonist therapies.
No extended in-clinic management: can be delivered in the same procedure time as a routine hyaluronic acid or steroid injection, with none of the monitoring burden required by earlier TRPV1 agonists.
No systemic side effects: a localized, highly selective mechanism avoids the systemic effects commonly associated with opioids.
PRECLINICAL DATA:
In the MIA rodent model of knee osteoarthritis, RM-010 showed no burning or tolerability issues, even at doses up to five times the equivalent generic capsaicin dose (p<0.001). It achieved a 90.4% analgesic effect at Week 4, versus 54.1% for generic capsaicin (p<0.01), with a projected duration of effect of 6+ months - at least two months longer than the generic form. Results were statistically significant and consistent across multiple independent studies. Science is being submitted to a Nature publication
A PIPELINE-IN-A-PRODUCT OPPORTUNITY:
The same underlying mechanism and clinical need are present across other joints
affected by osteoarthritis. RM-010 therefore represents a single therapeutic platform with the potential to expand into multiple OA joint indications.
RM-020: Neurogenic Bladder
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OVERVIEW:
RM-020 is a novel intravesical prodrug in preclinical development for neurogenic bladder and other urologic conditions involving pathological bladder-afferent signaling. Built on RM-010’s mechanism and development learnings, RM-020 extends Relevium’s prodrug approach into a second validated TRPV1 indication, acting through the same validated TRPV1 pathway to target the capsaicin-sensitive C-fiber afferents that drive detrusor overactivity, urgency and incontinence.
THE PROBLEM WITH TRPV1 AGONISTS TO DATE:
TRPV1 is a clinically validated target in urology. In neurogenic detrusor overactivity, disruption of normal bladder control allows TRPV1-expressing C-fiber afferents to drive abnormal reflex activity and involuntary contractions. Intravesical capsaicin has demonstrated clinical proof of concept for this pathway: in a placebo-controlled trial of patients with refractory neurogenic detrusor overactivity, capsaicin produced significant improvement in overactive bladder symptoms and increased maximum cystometric capacity by day 30, with no improvement in controls, and earlier trials in neurogenic hyperreflexic bladder showed similar gains in bladder capacity and reduced leakage. Capsaicin’s efficacy validates the target, but historical use has come with a real tolerability cost - its acute activation of TRPV1 drives an intense initial burst of nociceptor signaling, experienced clinically as burning and discomfort, before the desensitization that produces therapeutic benefit sets in, and this tolerability barrier has limited capsaicin’s broader clinical adoption.
OUR SOLUTION RM-020:
RM-020 is a novel TRPV1 prodrug engineered to overcome the tolerability problems that have limited TRPV1 agonists’ progression through clinical development in urology. Delivered via standard catheter-based intravesical instillation, it differentiates on pharmacology: as a prodrug, RM-020 provides a more controlled TRPV1-pathway exposure profile, reducing peak acute nociceptor activation while preserving the local exposure needed for durable effect - retaining TRPV1 agonism’s validated mechanism without the burning that has historically held it back.
KEY ADVANTAGES:
No burning on instillation: controlled exposure avoids the peak activation responsible for TRPV1 agonists’ tolerability barrier.
Higher achievable doses, better ablation: freed from the dose-limiting burning of conventional agonists, RM-020 can be dosed more aggressively, driving more complete afferent ablation.
Simple, unchanged delivery: standard catheter-based instillation, with none of the prior tolerability burden.
Preserved therapeutic effect: durable local exposure maintains desensitization of overactive bladder afferents, so tolerability gains don’t cost efficacy.
STAGE OF DEVELOPMENT: Preclinical
RM-030: Chronic Wound Pain
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OVERVIEW:
RM-030 is a novel chemical entity (NCE) non-opioid prodrug in the research development phase for chronic wound pain - including diabetic foot ulcers, venous leg ulcers, and pressure ulcers - building on controlled, localized exposure learnings from RM-010 and RM-020 within the validated TRPV1 pathway. TRPV1 is expressed on nociceptors, keratinocytes, and immune cells in skin, and is increasingly recognized as a target for pain control in chronic wounds.
Its role in wound pain has clinical precedent: TRPV1 agonist trials in hernia repair and knee arthroplasty reduced pain and opioid use versus placebo, though at the cost of significant burning that limited usable dose. RM-030 is designed to deliver controlled, sustained local exposure that lowers peak nociceptor activation and burning - enabling higher drug loading and, potentially, stronger and longer-lasting analgesia than existing TRPV1 agonists.
New Discovery
Beyond our lead TRPV1 ablation programs, we are advancing a proprietary discovery pipeline of TRPV1 and TRPA1 channel modulators - complementary mechanisms with the potential to broaden our approach, supported by a growing intellectual property portfolio. This work is supported by our €4.6 Million Enterprise Ireland DTIF partnership grant with the University of Galway, Ireland.