Pain impacts millions of people around the globe, yet there hasn’t been a new class of acute pain medicine in decades. This immense unmet need has driven us to fearlessly pursue innovation and utilize our deep understanding of human biology to potentially reach the pain community. 

Current pain medications have several different mechanisms of action, including acting on the central nervous system, but scientists at Vertex are committed to researching novel approaches. In fact, our work in pain has been in development for over 20 years alongside our work in cystic fibrosis (CF), where we have several approved treatments. 

In the video above, Paul Negulescu, Senior Vice President and Disease Area Executive for our pain program, details how we have continued to follow the science to understand the underlying mechanisms of pain signals. 

“Our hope is to utilize our deep understanding of sodium channel proteins to help reach people living with pain — a condition that, in certain respects, has a similar underlying biological basis as CF,” Paul says. 

Our strategy to pursue approaches that are grounded in fundamental biology combined with our commitment to patients has brought us this far, and we’re looking forward to continuing our work in pain as we aim to bring hope to millions suffering around the world. 

Watch the video to learn more.