It is estimated that chronic pain affects at least 10% of the world’s population and is one of the main reasons adults seek medical attention, causing a huge burden on families and society. Although the main therapeutics for the treatment of pain are still opioids, they are often ineffective, which, combined with the current opioid crisis, underlines the need to develop new painkillers. Unfortunately, despite the huge effort in the development of highly effective and selective modulators of various target pain pathways, the portfolio of pain medications remains narrow and no effective drugs have been discovered.

Voltage-gated calcium channels (VGCCs) have been shown to play an essential role in the processing of nocceptive signals in primary afferent fibers. Therefore, they have become the primary goal of pain management. The aim of this project is to use the unique diversity of VGCC expressed in nociceptive neurons using a wide range of calcium channel blockers as new therapeutics for pain management. The starting point is our recent discovery of new, small organic molecules with nitrogen-rich skeletons that have a relatively broad pharmacological profile against VGCC channels. Our initial results will be applied in search of a potential hit by organic synthesis of a series of calcium channel antagonists Cav3.2 and by studying their properties by electrophysiological methods and in animal pain models. Reiteration of these steps can lead to new neopioid pain medications, which may be an alternative to opioids that have serious side effects.