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Drug Discovery Efforts for Pain Indications:  Ion Channels and GPCRs
Sponsored by APS Translation Physiology Group and the Liaison with Industry Committee
Translational Physiology Track

Although acute pain sensation of noxious stimuli is critical to survival, chronic activation of the pain pathway(s) through nerve damage and/or inflammatory responses can become debilitating. Many current pain medications carry side-effects that limit their use (e.g. addiction for opioids and heart arrhythmias for COX-2 inhibitors). In addition, there still remains significant unmet medical need for effective pain treatments, particularly in the area of neuropathic pain. Current drug discovery efforts to treat chronic pain problems have focused on new molecular targets that address the underlying mechanisms of pain sensation. This symposium brings together several experts from industry and academia focusing on novel ion channel or GPCR targets for treating chronic pain. Each speaker will discuss the mechanistic rational for the target and describe the drug screening and testing strategies employed to identify novel therapeutics.