Australian Firm Hones Next-Generation Painkillers

The prescription medicine OxyContin is displayed August 21, 2001 at a Walgreens drugstore in Brookline, MA. The powerful painkiller, manufactured to relieve the pain of seriously ill people, is being used by some addicts to achieve a high similar to a heroin rush. Darren McCollester/Getty Images

Australian scientists are working on new painkilling drugs that are more targeted and with fewer side effects for people living with debilitating and chronic pain.

The medicines, which target a molecule believed to affect how the human body senses pain, are being developed by the University of Queensland startup Cassowary Pharmaceuticals.