NO PAIN, MORE SANE –
Aug. 22, 2025 – Pain management providers use a combination of evidence-based treatment options that involve medications, therapy, injections, and specialized procedures to improve pain. But sometimes, these therapies are not enough to enable patients to have control over their pain.Opioid medications, like oxycodone and tramadol, can help in the short-term but the long-term use can be problematic and complicated by developing tolerance and addiction.
Researchers, like Gregory Scherrer, PharmD, PhD, are determined to create a new pain medication that can offer relief to those in need—without the addictive properties. Now supported by a multi-million U19 grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the research team is in the process of converting their basic science findings into clinically relevant results.
“The fundamental problem is that pain is unpleasant,” said Scherrer, who is an associate professor in the UNC Department of Cell Biology and Physiology, the UNC Neuroscience Center, and the UNC Department of Pharmacology. “We are currently working on several drug candidates that can target specific neurons in the brain and turn off the ‘unpleasantness’ of pain, while maintaining sensation in the body.”
