Understanding chronic inflammatory and neuropathic pain.

This meeting report highlights the main topics presented at the conference "Chronic Inflammatory and Neuropathic Pain," convened jointly by the New York Academy of Sciences, MedImmune, and Grunenthal GmbH, on June 2-3, 2011, with the goal of providing a conducive environment for lively, informed, and synergistic conversation among participants from academia, industry, clinical practice, and government to explore new frontiers in our understanding and treatment of chronic and neuropathic pain. The program included leading and emerging investigators studying the pathophysiological mechanisms underlying neuropathic and chronic pain, and experts in the clinical development of pain therapies. Discussion included novel issues, current challenges, and future directions of basic research in pain and preclinical and clinical development of new therapies for chronic pain.