Pill that can help to reduce the misery of shingles pain by 30%

• Trials of experimental drug EMA401 found it cut pain levels for half sufferers
• Pain relief was experienced after just four weeks of taking two pills a day
• Shingles is caused by reactivation of the virus that causes chickenpox 
• It affects 190,000 Britons each year, most of them aged over 50

A new treatment could bring hope to thousands of shingles sufferers with long-term pain. Trials of the experimental drug EMA401 found it cut pain levels by at least 30 per cent for more than half of sufferers - some of whom had been in agony for years. Pain relief was experienced after just four weeks of taking two pills a day, according to a study published in The Lancet medical journal.

A bout of shingles puts you at higher risk of having a stroke or heart attack years later, a study shows

British researchers behind the study hope the breakthrough will benefit patients with post-shingles pain, and many more with other intractable pain conditions. Because the drug works in a different way to conventional painkillers, it may be able to treat chronic nerve pain from diabetes, HIV, nerve injury and cancer chemotherapy. Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2551956/Pill-help-reduce-misery-shingles-pain-30-New-treatment-bring-relief-thousands-sufferers-just-four-weeks.html