BIO Publishes Report on Pain Meds

On Feb. 12, 2018, the Biotechnology Innovation Organization (BIO)

on the opioid addiction problem in the United States. The report, which analyzed a decade of innovation and investment in the treatment of pain and addiction, states that more research and clinical development are needed.

The report found that the number of clinical-stage drug programs for pain treatments is low compared with other disease-treatment areas such as oncology. There are 125 novel chemical entities for these treatments in clinical development, 87% of which are for non-opioid receptors, according to BIO. There have been 142 clinical trials initiated over the past decade, with 12 FDA approvals for abuse deterrent pain medications.

BIO found that it is difficult for novel pain drugs to have success in clinical development. The report states that only 2% of these drugs are likely to get FDA approval from Phase I. Currently, there are 15 active clinical-stage programs with novel compounds for addiction treatment and, according to the report, venture investment in R&D for these types of drugs is “nearly non-existent.”

“America’s biopharmaceutical companies are committed to combating our nation’s opioid epidemic,” said BIO President and CEO Jim Greenwood in a press statement. “This will depend upon biomedical innovation and the development of novel and safer, next-generation therapies to treat both pain and addiction, which together cost our country more than $1 trillion annually. While there are promising technologies under development, more must be done to stimulate research and development for these areas of high unmet need.”

Source: BIO