Adolor's Discovery Research scientists utilize proprietary technology in cloned, human opioid receptors to discover and develop drug candidates to treat pain and manage the adverse side effects caused by currently available pain treatments. We design compounds to selectively stimulate or block the delta or mu opioid receptor subtypes to develop treatments for conditions such as postoperative ileus and chronic opioid bowel dysfunction, as well as various pain conditions, including inflammatory and neuropathic pain. Adolor has discovered a series of selective, novel delta agonist compounds.

Our chemistry efforts include combinatorial and computational chemistry, as well as medicinal chemistry and scale-up/process capabilities. Adolor's biology team includes scientists specializing in molecular biology, signal transduction, molecular pharmacology, and in vivo experimental models of analgesia. In addition, Discovery Research efforts are supported by Safety Assessment, Drug Metabolism and Pharmacokinetics as well as Pharmaceutical Technologies in close collaboration with Preclinical Development.