This review outlines how pain remains the number one reason patients turn to physicians for care and is recognized as a leading cause of economic burden in the US. Chronic pain in the elderly is influenced by co-morbid diseases, changes in physiological competency or cognitive reserve. Increasing life expectancy in conjunction with the aging ‘baby-boomer’ era will result in a near doubling of the elderly individual (>65 years old) population by 2030. This will result in a flooded healthcare system of individuals requiring pain relief options without an appropriate volume of optimized analgesic market drugs. A shift in the drug discovery process and renewed focus for new medications to close the gaps for pain management in later life are required.

PUBLICATION: Drug Discovery Today (2013)

AUTHORS: Stephen P. Arneric , Jennifer M.A. Laird, Amy S. Chappell and Jeffrey D. Kennedy