Abstract

Discovery and development of a novel pharmaceutical is fraught with complexity, expense, time pressure and failures. The field of Neuroscience, and in particular chronic pain, is an especially demanding one. The unmet need for people suffering from chronically painful conditions is enormous. Approximately ⅓ of the population have from chronic pain at some point in their lives and of those only ⅓ will get any relief from existing analgesics. The hunt is on for novel mechanistic approaches to treating pain. But how do you accurately measure something as subjective as pain and how does psychology impact a clinical trial?

Fraser Welsh is a consultant in pharmaceutical development. He has over 25 years experience in the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industry at Cambridge Antibody Technology (CAT), MedImmune and AstraZeneca. He has worked extensively on the discovery, engineering and clinical development of antibody drugs in a number of diseases but predominantly in Neuroscience and chronic pain. Most recently he has lead the clinical development of a novel analgesic through successful Phase 2 clinical trials.