Antagonists (blockers) of the so-called TRPV1 channel are being developed as novel painkillers by several pharmaceutical companies. This development, however, has been hindered by adverse effects on body temperature – some TRPV1 antagonists increase body temperature (cause hyperthermia), whereas others decrease it (cause hypothermia). The research team at Dignity Health St. Joseph’s Hospital and Medical Center (Phoenix, AZ), headed by Professor Andrej Romanovsky, M.D., Ph.D., collaborated with scientists at AbbVie (North Chicago, IL), Amgen (Thousand Oaks, CA), and the Medical School at the University of Pécs (Pécs, Hungary) to address this problem.
