U.S. Department of Health & Human Services
Pain Management Effectiveness Research Network
Overview
The Research Need
Patients and clinicians need to know which interventions are most effective for pain management. Effective interventions and management strategies for pain can also reduce reliance on opioids, when appropriate. It is important for pain management approaches to address pain across the continuum from acute to chronic pain associated with disease, as well as pain presenting as a disease itself.
About the Program
This program evaluates the effectiveness of a broad range of therapies to guide clinical practice in real-world settings. This broad research effort seeks to improve pain care by enhancing understanding about chronic pain as well as by accelerating and improving pain therapeutics development. Dedicated resource centers optimize and coordinate these collaborative activities.
The program leverages the infrastructure of the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS) Trial Innovation Network to support clinical trials that compare the effectiveness of existing non-addictive pain therapies as well as existing or novel approaches for pain prevention and management. The program is aligned with the high-priority recommendations of the Federal Pain Research Strategy and supports implementation of the recommendations of the Pain Management Best Practices Inter-Agency Task Force.
Program Details
Through the Helping to End Addiction Long-term® Initiative, or NIH HEAL Initiative®, NIH has awarded grants to institutions for clinical trials, and supplemental awards to institutions to support clinical trials and clinical infrastructure. The awards are administered by multiple NIH Institutes and Centers. The National Center for Advancing Translational Science Trial Innovation Network provides various services, such as study design support, recruitment and retention assistance, community and participant engagement, and the trial data management system.
Research Examples
Research examples supported by this program include:
- Evaluating the effectiveness of nonpharmacological treatments for pain, including behavioral interventions delivered by trained providers and through telehealth programs and self-management programs
- Studying a broad range of pain conditions, including chronic pain, chronic cancer pain, chronic musculoskeletal pain, perioperative pain, post-Cesarean delivery pain, and knee osteoarthritis
- Involving understudied populations, including older adults, adolescents, veterans, people in rural areas, and postpartum women
- Combining cognitive behavioral and medication-based treatments to improve patient outcomes (pain relief and function)
- Establishing resource centers that optimize the coordination of individual clinical trials and facilitate the dissemination of strategies and best practices for conducting pain clinical trials
Pain Management Effectiveness Research Network Awards to Support Clinical Trials
- Johns Hopkins University – Maryland
- Kaiser Foundation Research Institute – California
- New York University School of Medicine – New York
- Seattle Children’s Hospital – Washington
- University of New Mexico – New Mexico
- Wake Forest – North Carolina
Pain Management Effective Research Network Supplemental Awards to Support Clinical Trials
- George Washington University – District of Columbia
- Wake Forest NCORP Research Base – North Carolina
NCATS Trial Innovation Network Supplemental Awards to Support Clinical Trial Infrastructure, Recruitment, and Community and Participant Engagement
- Duke University – North Carolina
- Johns Hopkins University – Maryland
- Tufts University – Massachusetts
- University of Utah – Utah
- Vanderbilt University – Tennessee
Funded Projects
Closed Funding Opportunities
Participating NIH Institutes, Centers, and Offices
- Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD)
- National Cancer Institute (NCI)
- National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS)
- National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (NCCIH)
- National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases (NIAMS)
- National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS)
- National Institute of Nursing Research (NINR))
- National Institute on Aging (NIA)
View Other Research Programs in This Focus Area
- Advancing Health Equity in Pain Management
- Back Pain Consortium Research Program (BACPAC)
- Discovery and Validation of Biomarkers, Endpoints, and Signatures for Pain Conditions
- Early Phase Pain Investigation Clinical Network (EPPIC Net)
- Integrated Approach to Pain and Opioid Use in Hemodialysis Patients (HOPE)
- Integrative Management of Chronic Pain and OUD for Whole Recovery (IMPOWR)
- Pain Management Effectiveness Research Network (ERN)
- PRagmatic and Implementation Studies for the Management of Pain to Reduce Opioid Prescribing (PRISM)