A novel phenotypic screening platform targeting chronic pain drug discovery

Chronic pain is a disease area with a significant and unmet need for improved treatments. However, due to the complex nature of pain transduction, pain is a notoriously difficult area for drug discovery, where conventional target-based efforts have largely failed to produce new drugs. In this whitepaper, we present a novel phenotypic screening platform based on our proprietary Cellaxess® Elektra technology. This platform provides an exciting opportunity to efficiently identify new classes of compounds that affect neuronal excitability in primary peripheral pain-sensing neurons, while sparing the CNS and cardiovascular system. Combining these three assays means that important decisions about which compounds to advance to further testing and which to eliminate can be made in a seamless operation much earlier along the discovery process, translating to an increase in efficiency, and consequently a decrease in time and costs. Åke Jägervall, Susanne Lardell, Paul Karila, Mattias Karlsson A novel phenotypic screening platform targeting chronic pain drug discovery