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Determining Pain Detection and Tolerance Thresholds Using an Integrated, Multi-Modal Pain Task Battery
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Overcoming obstacles to developing new analgesics.

Clifford J Woolf1

  • 1Neurobiology Center and Program in Neurobiology, Department of Neurology, Children's Hospital Boston, Boston, Massachusetts, USA. clifford.woolf@childrens.harvard.edu

Nature Medicine
|October 16, 2010
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

Developing new pain relief medication is challenging, leading many pharmaceutical companies to abandon pain management. A strategic shift is needed to understand these difficulties and improve the success of analgesic drug development.

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Area of Science:

  • Pharmacology
  • Drug Discovery
  • Pain Management

Background:

  • Substantial pharmaceutical investment has yielded limited progress in developing effective and safe analgesics.
  • Many large pharmaceutical companies are exiting the pain medication market due to development challenges.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To identify the reasons behind the difficulties in developing drugs for pain relief.
  • To propose a paradigm shift in analgesic drug development strategy.

Main Methods:

  • Analysis of historical pharmaceutical industry investment in analgesic research.
  • Review of factors contributing to the challenges in pain medication development.

Main Results:

  • Despite decades of investment, efficacious and safe analgesics remain scarce.
  • The current strategy in analgesic drug development is insufficient for success.

Conclusions:

  • A fundamental change in strategy is required for successful analgesic drug development.
  • Understanding the inherent challenges is crucial for future progress in pain relief medication.