Meeting to Explore New Treatments for Chronic Pain Syndromes

The New York Academy of Sciences and the New York Chapter of the American Chemical Society will present a one-day symposium “Unmet Needs in Pain Therapeutics: Neuropathic Pain and Fibromyalgia” on Tuesday, April 27.

This symposium is intended to address both early clinical applications and validation of new pain mechanisms useful for the discovery of new treatments for chronic pain syndromes, as well as discuss the progress towards, and barriers to, developing effective preclinical models of pain, in particular fibromyalgia.

Chronic pain can be inflammatory, neuropathic, or mixed in its etiology, but usually involves neuroplastic changes that result in hypersensitivity in the peripheral and/or central nervous system. Expression and functional changes of receptors and ion channels in neurons and, more recently, glial cells has been the focus of much chronic pain research, but major challenges continue to exist in understanding and creating validated models. The ultimate goal of developing an effective disease-modifying therapy for chronic pain conditions such as fibromyalgia has yet to be reached, but with the establishment and validation of preclinical models, this could become a reality.

WHAT: Unmet Needs in Pain Therapeutics: Neuropathic Pain and Fibromyalgia Symposium

WHO: Organized by:
Chad E. Beyer, University of Colorado School of Medicine
Mark R. Bowlby, Merck Research Laboratories
Ildiko Antal, Bristol-Myers Squibb
Beth A. Winkelstein, University of Pennsylvania
Jennifer Henry, The New York Academy of Sciences

WHEN: Tuesday, April 27, 2010 | 9:00 AM - 5:00 PM

WHERE: The New York Academy of Sciences
7 World Trade Center
250 Greenwich St., 40th floor
New York, NY 10007

This meeting is presented by the Academy’s Biochemical Pharmacology Discussion Group and the New York Chapter of the American Chemical Society, and is supported by an educational grant from Purdue Pharma L.P. For more information or to register for this event, please visit www.nyas.org/paintherapeutics. Media may register by contacting Adrienne Burke, Director, Public Outreach, The New York Academy of Sciences, aburke@nyas.org or 212.298.8655.