Axios Event: Non-opioid pain treatment options remain scarce despite dire need

MIAMI – There has been little innovation in alternative options for pain treatment over the past two decades while the U.S. struggles with an opioid epidemic.

Why it matters: Pain affects a large segment of the population, with 50 million Americans living with chronic pain.

Axios' Caitlin Owens and Tina Reed moderated conversations with NFL/NFLPA Joint Pain Management Committee co-chair Kevin Hill, U.S. Pain Foundation director of policy and advocacy Cindy Steinberg, and Spine and Wellness Centers of America CEO Christian González at the Dec. 10 event. The event was sponsored by Vertex Pharmaceuticals.

What they're saying: "When people are living with pretty severe pain, there's almost no other options beside opioids," Steinberg said.

• "When you look at the United States as a whole … acute pain management is very, very underutilized, and so people that continue to have acute pain are the ones that develop chronic pain," González said.

The need for non-opioid treatments for both chronic and acute pain has led to increased investment in potentially viable alternatives, some of which are promising, speakers said.

A twofold increase in funding for pain research since 2018 has assisted the National Institutes of Health to discover new targets of different molecules that might affect the ability to reduce pain, Steinberg said.

• "We're really hopeful that some of these have led to new companies looking at developing new therapeutics," Steinberg said.

The NFL is funding studies exploring how cannabis and other cannabinoids might be used in pain management for athletes.

• "There's always been an interest for the last decade or so from players talking about cannabis and other cannabinoids like cannabidiol or CBD … So we've listened to the players, the things that they're interested in, and we've spent a lot of time looking at things like CBD," Hill said.

"You have to be able to think outside the box. What we currently have is not working," González said.

• "Dr. Hill even said it. You know, the NFL was completely against medical marijuana and they were actually suspending players that tested positive. … Now they're actually studying that this could actually be beneficial to the athletes," González added.

Sponsored content:

In a View From the Top sponsored segment, Vertex Pharmaceuticals senior vice president Paul Negulescu said there is still an unmet need for new acute pain treatment options.

• "What we're faced with today is actually the same set of medications that we've had for the last 50 years: Ibuprofen, acetaminophen, Advil, Tylenol. For the more mild to moderate pain, those work reasonably well, but then when the pain is more severe there's only one option right now and those are the opioids. We need something in the middle—that's the gap that is driving this unmet need," Negulescu said.