This meeting contained a considerable body of data on both basic science and clinical studies dedicated to the alleviation of pain. Presentations covered a number of exciting areas, where both novel disclosed compounds and clinical data were covered. From these we have selected excitability blockers acting on sodium and calcium channels, progress in drugs acting at glutamate receptors, cannabinoid receptors, capsaicin analogs, novel opioids acting at receptors other than the mu receptor for morphine, substance P antagonists and cyclooxygenase (COX)-2 inhibitors as being of particular interest.