Pain therapeutics rank as one of pharmaceutical industry’s key growth sectors, thanks to the “graying” population, scientific advances in understanding the neurological pathways underlying pain perception, and clinicians’ improved awareness of pain management.
Several market research reports have predicted that prescription pain therapeutics could prove to be commercially lucrative to pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies.1 In early 2014, one report predicted that the sales of prescription drugs for pain management would increase over the next four years at a compound annual growth rate of 3.84 percent. According to another market research forecast, the global market for these drugs would reach $60 billion in 2015.3 In 2010, the global market was estimated at $28.6 billion.
Because prescription pain medications too often have been diverted into the illegal drug trade, development, manufacturing, and distribution are much more complicated for these drugs than for other prescription therapeutics. To produce prescription pain medications in the U.S., manufacturing facilities must abide by the rules and regulations of two federal agencies: the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA), an arm of the U.S. Department of Justice that is charged with enforcing the Comprehensive Drug Abuse Prevention and Control Act, better known as the Controlled Substances Act (CSA).
Several market research reports have predicted that prescription pain therapeutics could prove to be commercially lucrative to pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies.1 In early 2014, one report predicted that the sales of prescription drugs for pain management would increase over the next four years at a compound annual growth rate of 3.84 percent. According to another market research forecast, the global market for these drugs would reach $60 billion in 2015.3 In 2010, the global market was estimated at $28.6 billion.
Because prescription pain medications too often have been diverted into the illegal drug trade, development, manufacturing, and distribution are much more complicated for these drugs than for other prescription therapeutics. To produce prescription pain medications in the U.S., manufacturing facilities must abide by the rules and regulations of two federal agencies: the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA), an arm of the U.S. Department of Justice that is charged with enforcing the Comprehensive Drug Abuse Prevention and Control Act, better known as the Controlled Substances Act (CSA).