The Unsung Heroes of Science: Our Edge in Biotech Discovery
Everyone knows pain. It’s been called the enemy within, a silent epidemic, even the “fifth vital sign.” Pain is one of the most common reasons people see a doctor, yet often overlooked or minimized. When that pain is chronic—persisting for three months or more—the struggle is compounded by barriers to better care. A U.S. Pain Foundation survey found that nearly eight in ten patients feel stigmatized because of their pain, including two-thirds who say that stigma comes from their own healthcare providers.
For more than 50 million Americans living with chronic pain, it threatens to become a life sentence. Among them are an estimated 10 million people with fibromyalgia, a complex and invisible condition characterized by fatigue, non-restorative sleep, brain fog, and debilitating pain. All too frequently, those seeking help for fibromyalgia have been prescribed opioids that are unsafe for long-term use, or treated as if their symptoms were imaginary.
Although landmark research conducted half a century ago validated fibromyalgia patients’ experiences—most of them women—marginalization has endured. Time and again, they’ve been doubted by doctors and even loved ones, left increasingly isolated, and offered little relief for their barrage of symptoms. Against this backdrop of unmet needs, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently approved the first new fibromyalgia therapy for adults in 15 years.
As patients applaud the news, it’s clear they knew certain truths long before science dispelled the myths. When medicine ignored them, they built communities. When doctors dismissed them, they validated one another’s experience. They spoke up, rejected misdiagnosis, joined trials, and refused to be silent. Thanks largely to their perseverance, employers, insurers, and policymakers now recognize fibromyalgia as a source of disability and economic burden.
Yet it still took over 15 years to deliver a new treatment. I know because I lead the company that developed it. We also see opportunities for future medical breakthroughs to come sooner with patient-centered commitment from biotech and public health. That’s why it matters to acknowledge not only what went right but also what continues to hold back discovery where patients need it most—for chronic pain syndromes as well as other medical conditions that rob people of the most cherished parts of their lives.
On the upside, patients themselves drove progress. By sharing their lived experience, they gave us a foundation for decoding fibromyalgia. The FDA amplified their voices through one of its first patient-focused meetings and underscored this approach in 2025 draft guidance emphasizing the need to accelerate the development of non-opioid analgesics for chronic pain. Although bias and stereotypes persist—with fibromyalgia sometimes reduced to “women complaining about pain”—the momentum grounded in patients’ realities is promising.
It is my hope that the FDA’s continued focus on developing non-opioid analgesics for chronic pain will lead to consistent and faster progress across care and research settings. From chronic pain to still-elusive diseases like cancer, Alzheimer’s, and Parkinson’s, the patient experience should not be a side note but a starting point. While doctors urge patients to understand the science behind their conditions, it is just as crucial for medical science to learn from patients. From this shared perspective, research can open the door to advanced therapies that decisively address symptoms and transform lives.
Moreover, a treatment that relieves symptoms can also illuminate the underlying biology of a disease, paving the way for additional therapies. Discovery rarely happens overnight; it unfolds over time through incremental insights. For countless diseases and disorders, balancing patient voices with scientific rigor can harness our ability to change the course of medicine—and make a world of difference for millions of people who’ve waited too long for better solutions.
The best science cannot deliver meaningful medical advances without putting patients front and center. Ultimately, the North Star of the patient experience will always guide medicine forward. When it does, more people will finally have the chance they deserve to reclaim their lives and their futures.
About the Author
Seth Lederman is co-founder, CEO and chairman of Tonix Pharmaceuticals Holding Corp., a biotech company dedicated to developing novel medicines for central nervous system disorders. The FDA recently approved TonmyaTM (cyclobenzaprine HCl) sublingual tablets as a treatment for adults with fibromyalgia. It is the first FDA-approved therapy for fibromyalgia in over 15 years.
© 2025 Dr. Seth Lederman