This book presents a contemporary review of the field of pain therapeutics, including the historical medicines which still dominate standard of care treatments, as well as the new mechanisms and combinations/reformulations that have dominated the regulatory approvals over the last decade. In addition, it provides a deep review of the key biological mechanisms currently under investigation for their utility into the treatment of pain, such as ion channels, opiates and others.

Additional discussion highlights the current challenges of pain research, covering a range of topics from difficulties in identifying new targets and pre-clinical models to the current regulatory and commercial challenges. This background sets the scene for recent scientific developments in pain research, such as the drive for genetic validation of targets and the derivation of human cell platforms from stem cells. Finally, the book covers the discovery and development stories of two pain products approved in the last decade. These case studies for Lyrica and the Butrans patch, give insight into the discovery and development challenges and successes for both an oral and non-oral product.