February 8, 2002

The pharmaceutical company Purdue Pharma L.P. of Stamford, Conn., recently gave the MGH a significant gift to support a range of programs aimed at improving the understanding and management of the most common symptom of illness and injury — pain.

The $3 million commitment from the Purdue Pharma Fund will be used to develop and expand opportunities for health care professionals to learn more about the wide range of tools and techniques for managing and treating pain. The grant also will be used to enhance the hospital's pain-focused clinical research efforts.

To recognize this contribution, the hospital's pain program now will be named the MGH Purdue Pharma Pain Center. Known for its pioneering research on chronic pain, Purdue Pharma is engaged in the research, development, production and distribution both of prescription and of over-the-counter medicines and hospital products.

"Purdue Pharma and the MGH share an unwavering commitment to finding ways to alleviate acute and chronic pain," says Jane Ballantyne, MD, (pictured at left) of MGH Anesthesia and director of the hospital's Pain Center. "Too many people today continue to experience pain, despite the increasing number of pain relief measures available. This generous gift from Purdue will assist us in finding ways to clarify misconceptions and misunderstandings about pain and to provide caregivers with the knowledge and resources they need to help patients who are suffering from pain – perhaps needlessly."

The educational initiatives supported by the gift will include the development of courses offering health care educators up-to-date information about pain, as well as necessary educational tools and effective teaching methods. Other efforts involve sponsoring continuing medical education courses for medical professionals and developing and distributing educational materials.

In 1982, the MGH established a multidisciplinary pain center, recognizing the benefits of fully assessing and analyzing pain and tailoring its management to individual patients' needs. The MGH Pain Center, which has greatly expanded during the past two decades, has remained committed to evaluating new pain therapies, techniques and practices.

The center has helped to shape the field of pain management by identifying many of today's best practices, conducting innovative clinical and basic research and disseminating information to the health care community.