{"id":13785,"date":"2017-11-13T09:47:00","date_gmt":"2017-11-13T09:47:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/associatednews.us\/content\/2017\/11\/13\/brain-scientists-look-beyond-opioids-to-conquer-pain\/"},"modified":"2017-11-13T09:47:00","modified_gmt":"2017-11-13T09:47:00","slug":"brain-scientists-look-beyond-opioids-to-conquer-pain","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/associatednews.us\/content\/brain-scientists-look-beyond-opioids-to-conquer-pain\/","title":{"rendered":"Brain Scientists Look Beyond Opioids To Conquer Pain"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Jon Hamilton<\/a><\/span> <\/p>\n

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Hiroshi Watanabe\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

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The goal is simple: a drug that can relieve chronic pain without causing addiction.<\/p>\n

But achieving that goal has proved difficult, says Edward Bilsky<\/a>, a pharmacologist who serves as the provost and chief academic officer at Pacific Northwest University of Health Sciences in Yakima, Wash.<\/p>\n

“We know a lot more about pain and addiction than we used to,” says Bilsky, “But it’s been hard to get a practical drug.”<\/p>\n

Bilsky is moderating a panel on pain, addiction and opioid abuse at the Society for Neuroscience meeting<\/a> in Washington, D.C., this week.<\/p>\n

Brain scientists have become increasingly interested in pain and addiction as opioid use has increased<\/a>. About 2 million people in the U.S. now abuse opioids, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.<\/p>\n

But at least 25 million people suffer from chronic pain, according to an analysis<\/a> by the National Institutes of Health. That means they have experienced daily pain for more than three months.<\/p>\n

The question is how to cut opioid abuse without hurting people who live with pain. And brain scientists think they are getting closer to an answer.<\/p>\n