home - Maps & Directions - University College London
 

Notice Board Topics
Europain consortium receives EU and industry funding and begins five year research into better treatments for chronic pain Europain, a public-private consortium funded by the Innovative Medicines Initiative (IMI), announced today the launch of a five-year research project to understand and improve treatment of chronic pain. The project will receive 6M€ from the IMI as well as 12.5M€ in kind contribution from the European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations (EFPIA) over the coming five years.

One in five adults suffers from chronic pain. This constitutes a major cause of long-term sick leave and forced early retirement, placing a great financial burden on both individuals and healthcare systems. Despite extensive research programmes by biopharmaceutical companies and academia, there remains a need for treatments that are more effective and with fewer side-effects.

Europain has established an international team of leading researchers and clinicians from both academia and industry to undertake multidisciplinary translational research. This team aims to increase the understanding of chronic pain mechanisms, help to develop novel analgesics, and develop better biomarkers for pain. Their ultimate goal is to improve the lives of people suffering from chronic pain.

During the five-year project, Europain will undertake a large number of preclinical and clinical studies. The program will be delivered through collaboration between laboratories in the Europain network, sharing resources to improve the value derived from the budget. Results will be made public during and after the project, ensuring that the knowledge created can be widely applied to the development of better therapies for patients suffering from chronic pain.

King’s College London, the managing entity of Europain and the academic lead institution will contribute to both the pre-clinical and clinical aspects of the project. One role will be to study the expression of potential pain mediators in both animal models of pain and samples from patients suffering from chronic pain. The role of novel pain mediators will then be investigated using an array of techniques ranging from cell culture to quantitative sensory testing in humans.

Professor Steve McMahon, who along with Dr Dave Bennett will be running the project at King’s, comments: ‘There are some big questions facing the pain field at the moment and this consortium, drawing on the skills and expertise of both academia and industry, is in a unique position to address them’.

The consortium network involves scientists representing 12 renowned European Universities: King’s College London (Academic lead), University College London, Imperial College London, the University of Oxford, the Christian-Albrechts-University of Kiel, the Medical Faculty Mannheim/Heidelberg University, the Technische Universität München, the Goethe University of Frankfurt, the BG University Hospital Bergmannsheil/Ruhr University Bochum, the University Hospitals of Aarhus, Rigshospitalet Copenhagen, University of Southern Denmark, the SME Neuroscience Technologies from Barcelona, and the research resources and expertise of Europe’s most active pharmaceutical companies working in the field of analgesics, including AstraZeneca (co-ordinator), Boehringer-Ingelheim, Eli Lilly, Esteve, Pfizer, Sanofi-Aventis, UCB Pharma.

About the Innovative Medicines Initiative

IMI is a unique Public-Private Partnership (PPP) between the pharmaceutical industry represented by the European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations (EFPIA) and the European Union represented by the European Commission. www.imi.europa.eu.…
News, Videos and Features News

Chronic pain: the search for a killer

Researchers engaging with local communities

Researchers’ discovery of why sunburn hurts reveals possible target for new pain relief drugs

New award funding of LPC

UK researchers tackle pain

Imperial College and the London Pain Consortium partner with a Japanese chemical company to fight chronic pain

Videos

Walking on Fire click here

Features

London Pain Consortium: key Discoveries

Reserachers: Pain killers click here

Painstaking research - tackling chronic pain click here

The London Pain Consortium making a difference…
Summer School, June 2009 Photos from the London Pain Consortium Summer School, held 21st-26th June 2009 in El Escorial, Madrid, Spain.

There are currently no summer schools scheduled. Please continue to check the website for updates.…
 
University College London
UCL- Gower Street Campus (Dickenson, Orengo, Wood)

Dickenson- Neuroscience, Physiology and Pharmacology, Medical Sciences Building
Fitzgerald & Hunt -Dept of Anatomy and Developmental Biology, Medawar Building
Orengo- Dept of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Darwin Building
Wood- Molecular Noiception Group, Cruiform Building


University College London
Gower Street
London WC1E 6BT

Site map

By Car
Street map
Car parking
Congestion charge

By Bus
Euston Road (East of Gower Street) no.10, 18, 30, 73, 205, 390
Euston Road (West of Tottenham Court Road) no.18, 27, 30, 99, 205
Gower Street (southbound) and Tottenham Court Road (northbound) no.10, 24, 29, 73, 134, 390
Upper Woburn Place no. 59, 68, 91, 168

Bus

By Underground
Euston- Victoria Line and Northern Line (Charing Cross and City Branches)
Euston Square-Metropolitan, Circle and Hammersmith & City lines
Goodge Street- Northern Line (Charing Cross Branch)
Russell Square-Piccadilly line
Warren Street-Victoria line and Northern Line (Charing Cross Branch)

Underground

By Train
Charing Cross-Northern line to Goodge Street or Warren Street
Euston- 5 minutes walk
Euston Square -5 minutes walk
King's Cross and St Pancras-15 minutes walk or underground to Euston
Liverpool Street- Metropolitan, Circle or Hammersmith and City line to Euston Square
London Bridge- Northern Line to Euston
Marylebone -Bakerloo line to Baker Street, either Metropolitan, Circle or Hammersmith & City line to Euston Square
Moorgate-Northern Line to Euston
Paddington -Circle or Hammersmith & City line to Euston Square
Victoria-Victoria line to Warren Street
Waterloo-Northern line to Goodge Street or Warren Street

National Rail
Underground

By Air
Heathrow, Stanstead, Gatwick airports offer convenient public transport links to Central London.

City
Gatwick
Heathrow
Stansted