Recent progress in sodium channel modulators for pain

Voltage-gated sodium channels (Na(v)s) are an important family of transmembrane ion channel proteins and Na-v drug discovery is an exciting field. Pharmaceutical investment in Navs for pain therapeutics has expanded exponentially due to genetic data such as SCN10A mutations and an improved ability to establish an effective screen sequence for example IonWorks Barracuda (R), Synchropatch (R) and Qube (R). Moreover, emerging clinical data (AZD-3161, XEN402, CNV1014802, PF-05089771, PF-04531083) combined with recent breakthroughs in Nav structural biology pave the way for a future of fruitful prospective Nav drug discovery. (C) 2014 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.