Although it is not known how PRIALT works in humans, in animals, PRIALT stops pain-sensing nerves from sending pain signals to the brain so that awareness - or, feeling - of pain is reduced or removed. 

Pain signals travel from nerve cell to nerve cell

• Pain-sensing nerve cells - the cells responsible for transmitting pain signals to the brain - have many openings (known as calcium channels) that are normally closed by gates 
  
• When an injury occurs (such as a burn) and a pain signal is received, the gates open, allowing calcium to enter
  
• When calcium enters the channel, the pain signal is passed to the next nerve cell, and continues until the pain signal reaches the brain          

PRIALT blocks pain signals

• PRIALT is known as an N-type calcium channel blocker, which means it blocks the channels on pain-sensing nerve cells
• Once the channels are blocked, calcium cannot enter and pain signals cannot travel to the brain