Treatment of Established Chemotherapy-Induced Neuropathy with N-Palmitoylethanolamide: A Randomized, Double-Blind Phase II Pilot Study

Davis MP, Ulrich A, Segal R, Gudena V, Ruddy KJ, D'Andre S, Giridhar KV, Vasireddy VK, Agarwal R, Azzouqa A-G, Novotny P, McCue S, Bauer B, Loprinzi CL. Cancers, 2024; 16(24):4244.

Randomised controlled trialHumans

Design

Randomised controlled trial

Subjects

88 patients with established neuropathy after chemotherapy. 85% completed 8 weeks.

Dose used in the study

400 mg once a day or 400 mg twice a day (OptiPEA capsules), against placebo

Duration

8 weeks

What was measured

The EORTC QLQ-CIPN20 neuropathy questionnaire as the main outcome. Patient impression of change, quality of life and self-reported cognitive function

What the authors reported

No suggestion that either palmitoylethanolamide group did better than placebo. The placebo group had numerically better scores (p = 0.11). There was no difference in quality of life or cognitive function, and no signal of a difference in toxicity between the groups.

Limits of this study

A pilot study. All outcomes were reported by patients. The trial was independently funded through a private family fund to the Mayo Clinic, and the authors declared no relevant conflicts.

Source

doi:10.3390/cancers16244244

Entry checked against the full text at the publisher (MDPI) on 2026-09-21. The dose shown is the dose the researchers used. It is not a recommendation. How to read this page.