What's the Prospect for Treating Chronic Pain?

Vertex Pharmaceuticals has a compound called VX548 that limits the flow of sodium ions into nerve cells. This is the beginning of the causal chain of sending signals to the brain which are interpreted as pain. Now this drug completed its phase two trials in March this year and the results were very promising. It will now have to go through phase three trials which are much larger, much longer on many more causes of pain than its initial trials. And it could be a meaningful brand new way to treat pain.