Despite intensive research into pain management clinic efficiency and significant investment in research and development, the majority of narcotic analgesics available to doctors and patients are based on limited classes of drug compounds that have been known for many years. With a large number of innovations, researchers continue to make the best of the limited drugs and narcotic pain medication approaches available, with new formulations, and effective combination products. Here we review some of the modalities of narcotic pain medications and analgesic drugs that have recently entered into pain clinic developments, which, paired with advances in the understanding of the pathology of chronic pain patients, will hopefully bring the promise of new therapeutic pain drugs that have the potential to provide improved pain relief for those many patients whose needs remain poorly met.
