An analysis of FDA-approved drugs for pain and anesthesia

The need to alleviate pain is among the first recorded uses for medicines, dating back to the onset of the Neolithic period. The need persists and many of today's best-known drugs (e.g. aspirin, acetaminophen, morphine) are included within this category. An analysis of FDA-approved new molecular entities (NMEs) for pain and anesthesia reveals a fluctuating rate of new introductions, which has plummeted in recent years. The largest emphasis has been placed on acute pain, largely targeting G-protein-coupled receptors and a relatively narrow subset of molecular pathways. NMEs targeting anesthesia tend to focus on channels and four molecular pathways capture a large majority of NMEs for this indication.