Platform to screen drug candidates for pain
Using rats as animal models helps to screen potential new pain-control drugs. Dr. Bennett is interested in working with pharmaceutical companies to design, conduct, and interpret clinical trials to investigate the efficacy of the drugs. Several successful collaborations with pharmaceutical and biotech companies have been completed over the last years (screening drug candidates). These successful collaborations are a clear evidence of the expertise developed by Dr. Bennett and its utility for the pharmaceutical and biotech industry.
Uncontrolled pain disrupts sleep, wears the sufferer down, and erodes the quality of life. This type of pain is the single most common cause of disability. It drives people to doctors and hospitals but gets a disproportionate amount of consideration from the medical community. Managing or relieving pain gets little attention in most medical school curriculums. Up to 33 percent of the population suffers from chronic pain, a condition that particularly affects seniors. The number will grow as the population ages. One U.S. survey suggests that chronic pain cost the American economy 550 million lost working days each year-a major economic impact.
Painful peripheral neuropathies are chronic conditions that arise when nerves are damaged by trauma, disease, metabolic insufficiency, and by certain drugs and toxins. Examples include painful diabetic neuropathy, postherpetic neuralgia, post-traumatic neuropathies, and the painful peripheral neuropathy caused by drugs used to treat cancer. Unlike other forms of chronic pain, neuropathic pain responds poorly or not at all to the standard analgesic drugs and thus it leads to great suffering, major disability and extensive health care utilization.
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