Challenges facing pain drug developers

Despite a plethora of medications, the pain market remains an area of high unmet need as current therapies are often less than effective and/or have undesirable side effects, according to a new Espicom report, titled Evolution in the Pain Therapy Market: Nociceptive and Neuropathic Drug Development.

Among the challenges facing the pharmaceutical industry is the rapid rise in prescription drug abuse, particularly in the USA, where it has reached epidemic proportions and has been directly correlated to a dramatic increase in the number of prescriptions for opioids, notes Espicom.

Extended-release opioids are often prescribed for moderate-to-severe chronic pain that requires continuous treatment around-the-clock. Chronic pain affects around 1.5 billion people worldwide and the number is growing as the population ages, with more people afflicted by painful conditions such as osteoarthritis and cancer.