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TENS of millions of people live with chronic and in some cases disabling daily pain in the US alone, in addition to those experiencing acute pain. Yet treatments for pain relief remain only partially effective and only work for some people.
For instance, paracetamol (acetaminophen) may have little or no effect on extreme pain and exceeding the recommended dose can be toxic to the liver. Similarly, ibuprofen and other non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs – which tackle the inflammation that presses on nerve endings and causes pain – have a range of side effects, including headaches and indigestion, as well as interacting with drugs used for several other conditions. This leaves opioids, which mimic the body’s natural painkillers and are among the most effective form of pain relief.
Yet while opioids may work for many types of acute and chronic pain, they can be ineffective against others, and are associated with addiction and the risk of overdose. The opioid epidemic has cost hundreds of thousands of lives in the US and has underlined the need for alternative treatments. But as John Wood, a pain researcher at University College London, puts it: “There has been a tremendous succession of failures trying to make new analgesics.”
For years, pharmaceutical companies had been looking for a way in through a single gene that might be vital for pain, he says. So, in 2006, when a team led by Geoff Woods at the University of Cambridge discovered such a gene, called SCN9A(see “What is pain, how does it work and what happens when…
