Breaking Barriers to Novel Analgesic Drug Development

Overview

Journal Nat Rev Drug Discov

Specialty Pharmacology

Date 2017 Jun 10

PMID 28596533

Citations 136

Authors

Ajay S Yekkirala

David P Roberson

Bruce P Bean

Clifford J Woolf

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Acute and chronic pain complaints, although common, are generally poorly served by existing therapies. This unmet clinical need reflects a failure to develop novel classes of analgesics with superior efficacy, diminished adverse effects and a lower abuse liability than those currently available. Reasons for this include the heterogeneity of clinical pain conditions, the complexity and diversity of underlying pathophysiological mechanisms, and the unreliability of some preclinical pain models. However, recent advances in our understanding of the neurobiology of pain are beginning to offer opportunities for developing novel therapeutic strategies and revisiting existing targets, including modulating ion channels, enzymes and G-protein-coupled receptors.

Citing Articles

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