title: An analysis of FDA-approved drugs for pain and anesthesia.
abstract: The need to alleviate pain is among the first recorded uses for medicines, dating back to the onset of the Neolithic period. The need persists and many of today's best-known drugs (e.g. aspirin, acetaminophen, morphine) are included within this category. An analysis of FDA-approved new molecular entities (NMEs) for pain and anesthesia reveals a fluctuating rate of new introductions, which has plummeted in recent years. The largest emphasis has been placed on acute pain, largely targeting G-protein-coupled receptors and a relatively narrow subset of molecular pathways. NMEs targeting anesthesia tend to focus on channels and four molecular pathways capture a large majority of NMEs for this indication.
authors.affiliation: Yale Center for Molecular Discovery, West Haven, CT 06516, USA. Electronic address: michael.kinch@yale.edu.
authors.forename: Michael S
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Kinch
mesh_terms: D000700:Analgesics / Q000627:therapeutic use; D000758:Anesthesia; D000777:Anesthetics / Q000627:therapeutic use; D017277:Drug Approval / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D004345:Drug Industry / Q000639:trends; D010146:Pain / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000378:metabolism; D043562:Receptors, G-Protein-Coupled / Q000378:metabolism; D014481:United States; D014486:United States Food and Drug Administration
chemical_list: D000700:Analgesics; D000777:Anesthetics; D043562:Receptors, G-Protein-Coupled