Financing Pharmaceuticals and Medical Devices for Pain Treatment and Opioid Use Disorder

The growing regulatory pressures and stigma surrounding opioids has discouraged investments and research in the pain industry. Using estimates from the literature, our simulations show that a portfolio of pharmaceuticals and medical devices for pain treatment and opioid use disorder, diversified and optimized across different development pathways, yields single digit annualized returns. This suggests that active collaboration between the public and private sectors is needed to incentivize investments in pain research.