The gene, once thought 'junk,' that could lead to new painkillers

The quest to find the genetic drivers of pain — and thus new targets for painkillers — has been long and fraught, but scientists in the U.K. believe they’ve uncovered a promising clue in the genome of a 51-year-old woman who lives a life without agony.

As STAT’s Jacquelyn Corley reports, researchers homed in on a mutation to a gene, once considered useless, that regulates an enzyme key to pain signaling.

That enzyme, called FAAH, has long been known to scientists, but targeting it directly has proved a blind — and potentially dangerous — alley for drug developers. The latest discovery, scientists said, suggests a way to turn down FAAH without tripping any safety triggers.

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