The State of Research Funding for Interventional Chronic Pain Therapies

• Authors: Sunil Agarwal, Emory University; Christopher Gharibo, NYU Grossman School of Medicine; Michael E Schatman, NYU Grossman School of Medicine
• Journal Title: Journal of Pain Research
• Volume: Volume 16
• Publisher: Dove Medical Press | 2023-05-31, Pages 1825-1828
• Type of Work: Article | Final Publisher PDF
• Publisher DOI: http://doi.org/10.2147/JPR.S418801
• Subjects: Health Sciences, Medicine and Surgery
• Keywords: Pain Therapies

Abstract

Chronic pain is among the most common chronic conditions in the United States, with over 50.2 million adults (20.5%) reporting pain either daily or on most days.1 Only recently has pain medicine research, generally, begun to receive increased federal funding and increased attention compared to other areas of medical research. Unfortunately, the majority of funding for pain medicine research remains focused on opioid use, misuse, and addiction,2 despite data demonstrating that the “prescription opioid crisis” of the early years of the current millennium ended a number of years ago.3,4 In the United States, there continues to be a lack of access to federal funding agencies dedicated to research in interventional pain medicine, which has significant implications for the development of effective treatments for chronic pain. This analysis will address the state of pain medicine research, the funding concerns associated with pain medicine research, and potential solutions to improve the quality of pain medicine research in the United States.