Explore the Agenda
8:00 am Check-In, Coffee & Light Breakfast
8:50 am Chair’s Opening Remarks
Defining The Next Era Of Non-Opioid Pain Therapeutics
9:00 am One Year of JOURNAVX in Practice: Emerging Real-World Insights from the First Approved NaV1.8 Pain Therapy
- Review recently published real-world and Phase IV evidence evaluating JOURNAVX use in clinical practice
- Examine emerging data on opioid-sparing outcomes and the evolving role of non-opioid therapies in acute pain management
- Explore prescribing patterns and treatment utilization trends from the growing body of post-launch evidence
- Discuss key considerations for advancing future pain therapies, including remaining challenges around efficacy, access, reimbursement, and demonstrating value beyond opioids
9:30 am Fireside Chat: Is NaV1.8 the Silver Bullet for Pain, or Does Clinical Success Depend on Matching Mechanism to Pain Biology?
- Is pain better viewed as a collection of biologically distinct diseases?
- Which pain phenotypes are most likely to benefit from NaV1.8 inhibition?
- Where might alternative mechanisms outperform sodium channel blockade?
- Why do promising assets continue to fail despite compelling target biology?
- How should developers match mechanism, indication and patient population to improve clinical success?
10:00 am Panel Discussion: Where Are Investors Placing Their Bets Across Pain Therapeutics?
- Which pain targets, technologies and therapeutic approaches are attracting the greatest investment interest today?
- What data package is required to move a program from scientific promise to an investable opportunity?
- How are investors assessing technical, clinical and commercial risk in an increasingly competitive pain landscape?
- Where do investors see the biggest opportunities and unmet needs shaping the next wave of pain innovation?
10:30 am Speed Networking
A prime chance to make the most of in-person networking and forge new connections as new companies enter, and existing ones broaden their presence within the pain therapeutics space. Designed to maximize your introduction to numerous new individuals and serve as a catalyst for ongoing discussions during the summit.
11:00 am Morning Break & Refreshments
Beyond NaV1.8 What Mechanisms Could Define the Next Generation of Pain Therapies
11:30 am Multi-Omic Endotyping of Chronic Pain: Leveraging Proteomic & Metabolomic Signatures for Biomarker Discovery & Patient Stratification
- Defining biologically distinct pain endotypes through integrated proteomic and metabolomic profiling
- Identifying molecular pathways associated with pain severity, progression, and treatment response
- Developing translatable biomarkers to improve patient selection and clinical trial design
- Utilizing human multi-omic datasets to inform target identification and therapeutic development
12:00 pm Session Reserved for MD Biosciences
12:30 pm Lunch & Networking
1:30 pm Targeting Peripheral α5-GABAa Receptors for Chronic Pain: Translational Evidence & Clinical Proof of Concept
- Exploring the rationale for selectively modulating peripheral α5-GABAA receptors to alleviate neuropathic pain while minimizing central nervous system adverse effects
- Reviewing Phase 2 clinical results with SR750 in trigeminal neuralgia and implications for broader peripheral neuropathic pain populations
- Evaluating the potential of α5-GABAA receptor modulation as a differentiated non-opioid alternative to current standards of care such as gabapentinoids
- Expanding development across diabetic peripheral neuropathy, post-herpetic neuralgia and other chronic neuropathic pain indications
2:00 pm Harnessing Neurotrophin-3 Biology to Address the Drivers of Chronic Pain
- Exploring the role of neurotrophins, particularly NT-3, in regulating pain signalling, inflammation, and chronic pain sensitisation
- Examining the biological rationale for selectively targeting NT-3 to address pain and functional impairment in osteoarthritis
- Reviewing how LEVI-04, an investigational p75NTR-Fc fusion protein, modulates NT-3 signalling and its clinical effects in patients with osteoarthritis
- Highlighting findings from a novel pain-evoked endpoint alongside future development plans in osteoarthritis and neuropathic pain indications
2:30 pm Afternoon Break & Refreshments
3:00 pm Scientific Poster Session
This is an informal session to help you connect with your peers in a relaxed atmosphere to continue forging new and beneficial relationships. With an audience of pain biologists, translational scientists, clinical development leaders, pharmacologists, biomarker experts, medicinal chemists, drug discovery researchers, and non-opioid therapeutic developers and more, you will have the opportunity to display a poster presenting your own work and innovations. Don’t miss out on the chance to connect, learn, and present.
Can We Finally Get Pain Trials Right? Bottlenecks in Clinical Development & How to Fix Them
3:30 pm Fireside Chat: Solving the Placebo Problem in Chronic Pain Trials
- Reduce placebo inflation through protocol design and site management
- Improve patient training and consistency across sites
- Examine crossover and adaptive study designs
- Apply lessons from successful recent programs
4:00 pm Managing Benefit Expectations: How Participant Education Mitigates Placebo Response in Chronic Pain Trials
- Explain how expectations of benefit can influence placebo responses and outcomes in chronic pain trials
- Describe participant-education strategies designed to establish realistic expectations without compromising informed consent or engagement
- Evaluate how expectation-management interventions may improve trial validity, signal detection, and interpretation of treatment effects
4:30 pm Fireside Chat: Are We Solving the Problems That Matter Most to Patients Living with Chronic Pain?
- Understand how patients define treatment success through improved function, independence and quality of life, rather than pain reduction alone
- Explore the benefit-risk trade-offs patients are willing to accept in exchange for meaningful improvements in daily living
- Challenge assumptions around what constitutes a clinically meaningful outcome and how these perspectives should influence trial design and regulatory decision-making
- Hear directly from patient advocates and individuals living with chronic pain on what developers should prioritize when designing the next generation of pain therapeutics