Dr John Wood, from University College London, said, The work of Geoff Woods and his team has provided us with an exciting new target for pain killing drugs - potentially this is as important as the identification of the morphine receptors. It is fascinating that this same gene, when mutated to encode a hyperactive channel, has also been found to contribute to ongoing pain in some heritable human disorders.

As individuals with mutations in the gene SCN9A are otherwise healthy, the scientists are hopeful that the development of drugs that prevent Nav1.7 from functioning could be used as new and potentially safer pain medications.