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A Davis-based pharmaceutical developer has received $5 million to start human clinical trials for its new pain drugs. EicOsis Human Health has been developing treatments for neuropathic and inflammatory pain, such as that from diabetes or arthritis, since 2011. The company is currently developing pain drugs for human uses, as well as relief for cats, dogs and horses. The recent funding round saw $5 million come in from Open Philanthropy Project, a San Francisco-based nonprofit that focuses on research grants and policy. The philanthropy chose EicOsis for its opportunity to reduce suffering from chronic pain conditions, according to a news release.

A research group at Hiroshima University observed a potential new target for chronic pain treatment. Further research using this receptor could lead to new, more effective drugs to use in pain-relieving treatment for chronic pain.

A breakthrough test developed by Indiana University School of Medicine researchers to measure pain in patients could help stem the tide of the opioid crisis in Indiana, and throughout the rest of the nation. A study led by psychiatry professor Alexander Niculescu, MD, PhD and published this week in the high impact Nature journal Molecular Psychiatry tracked hundreds of participants at the Richard L. Roudebush VA Medical Center in Indianapolis to identify biomarkers in the blood that can help objectively determine how severe a patient’s pain is. The blood test, the first of its kind, would allow physicians far more accuracy in treating pain—as well as a better long-term look at the patient’s medical future. “We have developed a prototype for a blood test that can objectively tell doctors if the patient is in pain, and how severe that pain is. It’s very important to have an objective measure of pain, as pain is a subjective sensation. Until now we have had to rely on patients self-reporting or the clinical impression the doctor has,” said Niculescu, who worked with other Department of Psychiatry researchers on the study. “When we started this work it was a farfetched idea. But the idea was to find a way to treat and prescribe things more appropriately to people who are in pain.”

For the first time in U.S. history, a leading cause of deaths, vehicle crashes, has been surpassed in likelihood by opioid overdoses, according to a new report on preventable deaths from the National Safety Council. Americans now have a 1 in 96 chance of dying from an opioid overdose, according to the council's analysis of 2017 data on accidental death. The probability of dying in a motor vehicle crash is 1 in 103. "The nation's opioid crisis is fueling the Council's grim probabilities, and that crisis is worsening with an influx of illicit fentanyl," the council said in a statement released Monday.

The Senate on Wednesday passed legislation intended to combat the opioid epidemic, in a rare moment of unity between Republican and Democratic lawmakers. The legislation was approved by a vote of 98-1 in the Senate and will now head to the White House for President Donald Trump's signature. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell referred to it as "landmark" legislation in remarks on the Senate floor on Wednesday, saying that the bill will bring "relief to American communities that have been decimated by the scourge of substance abuse and addiction."