Despite substantial efforts dedicated to the development of new, nonaddictive analgesics,
success in treating pain has been limited. Clinically available analgesic agents generally
lack efficacy and may have undesirable side effects. Traditional target-based drug discovery
efforts that generate compounds with selectivity for single targets have a high rate of attrition
because of their poor clinical efficacy. Here, we examine the challenges associated with the
current analgesic drug discovery model and review evidence in favor of stem cell–derived …