14 June 2015

Developing the painkillers of the future is a goal that has been undertaken by a team of researchers at the Institut de pharmacologie de Sherbrooke (IPS—Sherbrooke Pharmacology Institute), in collaboration with partners from the Université de Montréal and McGill University. The Institute has received $6.8 million in funding.

Institut de pharmacologie de Sherbrooke

Chronic pain affects nearly one third of Quebecers, and for about 70% of the patients affected, prescription painkillers do not effectively alleviate the pain. Furthermore, there are numerous side effects from existing medication. The development of new effective painkillers to more effectively control pain with minimal side effects remains a need to be addressed and an enormous challenge.

“The money will be used solely for purchasing cutting-edge equipment that will, on one hand, lead to a better understanding of the role that different proteins play in chronic pain and, on the other, accelerate the development of a new generation of more effective painkillers that are better tolerated by patients,” explained Professor Philippe Sarret, Co-Director of IPS and professor in the Department of Pharmacology/Physiology of the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences at the Université de Sherbrooke.

Who knows, perhaps, in a few years, the pain-relieving medication you will be prescribed will have been developed in an IPS laboratory.

Source : Université de Sherbrooke