BioCentury
ARTICLE | Product Development

Painfully slow

September 22, 2003 7:00 AM UTC

Pain is an underserved market because the use of opioid agonists to treat moderate to severe pain is limited by common side effects like grogginess and constipation, the development of tolerance and dependence, and the potential for abuse. Thus, there has long been an obvious need for effective and non-addictive alternatives. Yet of the more than 80 companies working on pain therapeutics, most are simply developing new formulations of old opioid agonists like morphine, oxycodone and fentanyl.

The reason so many companies are working on new formulations is simple: improved formulations still constitute low-hanging fruit. New strategies for administering opioid agonists may be able to alleviate some side effects while creating novel intellectual property. ...