Axios Event: Experts find pain relief inspiration in new tech and ancient healing

SAN DIEGO – Medical researchers are seeing promise in novel forms of pain management like virtual reality and psychedelics, they told Axios at a March 14 event.

Why it matters: America's opioid epidemic set off a search for nonaddictive pain remedies, and researchers are excited about the effectiveness of treatments they say target patients' psychological relationship with their pain.

Axios' Tina Reed and Erin Brodwin spoke with Beth Darnall, a professor at Stanford University's School of Medicine, chronic pain advocate Tom Norris and UC San Diego professor Fadel Zeidan at the event, which was sponsored by Vertex Pharmaceuticals.

Between the lines: The mental and emotional aspects of pain are not widely appreciated, Darnall said.

• "We really need to treat the whole definition of pain, and that's where psychology comes in," she said.
• "We target all of these factors that influence the pain experience, a person's thoughts, their emotions, their daily choices."

What's next: Virtual reality can help patients learn basic pain management skills, the experts said.

• Darnall also works at Applied VR, which uses immersive technology to help patients regulate their nervous system with visual displays and auditory input.
• "I'm a firm believer in VR," Norris said. " … I spent 10 years in bed, unable to do anything. But I found virtual reality, and it enabled me to focus on what I can do [in] dealing with the pain. Putting the pain over here is what I call it."

What they're saying: Zeidan is researching how cannabis and psychedelics can help pain management and has been encouraged by the results.

• "I think the idea is to use more of an integrative approach that is nonaddictive and effective in the long run," Zeidan said.
• "These products have been used for thousands of years, but we've had rules and regulations that have inhibited not only the use of these products but the research that goes into seeing if they're validated."

• "So while these are quite frankly ancient techniques, we're only now starting to use innovative approaches to understand if and how they work."

Content from the sponsored segment:

In a View From the Top conversation, Paul Negulescu, Vertex Pharmaceuticals senior vice president, said recent survey results found many people were not satisfied with the acute pain management treatment options available to them.

• "[M]any people had an unsatisfactory experience with their pain management, even with the presence of opioids, which can be very effective to treat pain but have the side effects," Negulescu said. "So people reported that they just didn't have a good experience, and the next time that they experience acute pain, they would like something different."