Pain
Pain is one of the most common reasons patients seek medical care. Conservative estimates suggest chronic pain affects over one and a half billion people, or roughly 20% of the world's population, with a recent global meta-analysis placing pooled prevalence among adults even higher, at nearly 27%, with higher rates observed in women. In the United States alone, 24.3% of adults reported chronic pain in 2023, and 8.5% experienced high-impact chronic pain that frequently limited daily life or work. The economic toll is substantial: the 2021 economic cost of chronic pain in the US was estimated at $722.8 billion, comprising $530.6 billion in medical care costs and $192.2 billion in lost work productivity.
According to the International Association for the Study of Pain (IASP), pain is defined as an unpleasant sensory and emotional experience associated with, or resembling that associated with, actual or potential tissue damage. This definition itself points to the challenge facing drug developers: pain extends beyond a sensory signal: it is a complex, subjective experience shaped by emotional and central processes, and opioids remain dominant despite their well-documented risks of tolerance, dependence, and abuse. Many non-opioid therapies, meanwhile, fail to translate the efficacy seen preclinically into meaningful relief in patients.
Pain is a family of diseases. Neuropathic, inflammatory, visceral, and nociplastic mechanisms each involve distinct pathways, and increasingly, distinct patient subpopulations that respond differently to treatment. This mechanistic diversity, combined with a growing understanding of how pain is centrally sensitized, modulated, and chronified, is reshaping how new therapies are discovered and validated. To move confidently from target to clinic, you need models and endpoints that capture this complexity rather than reduce it — models that reflect the biology of your target mechanism and the translational reality of the patients you aim to treat.
That is the gap we close: a portfolio of validated, mechanistically anchored pain models, designed to give you confidence at every stage from lead selection through IND-enabling studies.
Relevant services
Platforms used in this area
Molecular Biomarkers & Histology Molecular biomarkers and tissue biomarker expression
Electroencephalography (EEG) In-vivo rodent telemetry
MoSeq AI-powered motion sequencing
Operant Platform Motivation, impulsivity, attention, cognition, memory
PK/PD Studies Endpoints for lead optimization
PK-Bridge PK studies for discovery budgets
Humanized Models PXB humanized-liver mice
SPIDAR Rapid analgesic screening
Transgenics Genetically modified mice
Move your pain program forward with confidence.
Whether you are validating a novel analgesic target, de-risking a mechanism before IND-enabling studies, or building translational evidence to support clinical development, our scientists work alongside you to design studies that answer the right questions, early. From acute nociception to chronic pain conditions—and beyond, into itch/pruritus and companion animal indications—we help you choose the models and endpoints that will actually move your program forward.