Publication:

Recent advances in pain management

Pain is one of the most common complaints for which patients approach physicians. In spite of this there is a huge unmet need for developing medications for pain that are safe and efficacious. Owing to the heterogeneity of clinical pain and complex pathophysiology, target identification for drug development is difficult. Preclinical models have also proven unreliable for the development of novel analgesics. Recent advances in understanding the physiology of nociception has enabled the development of novel analgesics including abuse deterrent opioids, drugs targeting several receptors, ion channels and enzymes. This review will attempt to cover the physiology of nociception focusing on the novel targets, the challenges in development of novel analgesics and give an overview of the recently developed drugs and those in the pipeline for the management of pain.