Stimulating the development of mechanism-based, individualized pain therapies.
Biomedical science has greatly improved our understanding of pain in recent decades, but few novel molecular entities that address fundamentally new pain mechanisms have entered the clinic, despite dramatically increased pharmaceutical investment. Indeed, virtually all new analgesics approved over the past 25 years are derivatives or reformulations of opioids or aspirin-like drugs, existing drugs given for a new indication or older drugs given by a different route of administration. Here, we discuss factors contributing to this lack of innovation in therapies for pain and advocate public-private partnerships (PPPs) to translate new knowledge into more efficacious and safer treatments.
Woodcock
Janet
J
Food and Drug Administration, Department of Health and Human Services, Rockville, Maryland, USA.
Witter
James
J
Dionne
Raymond A
RA
D000700:Analgesics / Q000494:pharmacology / Q000627:therapeutic use; D000818:Animals; D002986:Clinical Trials as Topic; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D015195:Drug Design; D004347:Drug Interactions; D004359:Drug Therapy, Combination; D006801:Humans; D010146:Pain / Q000188:drug therapy*
D000700:Analgesics