For the forseeable future, the pain market remains a varied and competitive market place with significant unmet need. The market is forecast to be over US $40 billion by 2010 (see FIG. 1) and we expect continued growth of the COX2 market share. Novel, emerging druggable targets mean that there is scope for continued development in this sector (TABLE 1). At least two new product classes are forecast to be added to our arsenal to fight pain (TABLE 2), including nitric-oxide-linked NSAIDs, a class that has been predicted to reach US $750 million sales in 2010. With a better understanding of the mechanisms of pain, tailored treatments capable of true pain management—rather than treatment—may be closer than we think.