Cacti Therapeutics is developing a new class of medicines for chronic pain and trauma — nociplastigens — while building the world's most accessible education platform on the trauma–pain connection.
Pain, trauma, and mental health are not separate problems. They share biology — and they deserve medicines and knowledge that treat them that way.
We are advancing a novel class of non-psychedelic, peripherally-restricted compounds that target the plasticity mechanisms driving nociplastic pain — without acting on the central nervous system. Our pipeline focuses on chronic pain syndromes entangled with PTSD, TBI, and substance use disorder.
See the scienceA trusted, evidence-informed knowledge hub for patients living with chronic pain and the clinicians who serve them. We translate cutting-edge pain neuroscience — nociplasticity, central sensitization, the trauma–pain link — into clear language that changes how people understand and seek care.
Visit the education hub
The brain regions that process emotion, threat, and memory — the anterior cingulate cortex, the insula, the amygdala — are the same regions that shape how pain is felt and how it persists. Adverse childhood experiences, PTSD, and chronic stress tune the nervous system toward threat, amplifying pain signals long after the original injury has healed.
This is not pain "in your head." It is pain encoded in biology — and it is the biology that Cacti is working to change.
Emotion and pain share circuitry — and that changes everything about how we treat chronic pain.
Living with chronic pain is exhausting — especially when the standard answers haven't helped. Our education platform gives you real science, in plain language, about why your pain may be so persistent, and what the emerging evidence says about the path forward.
Education hubThe evidence on trauma, nociplasticity, and the overlap between pain and mental health is growing fast. Our resources hub and education section compile the best papers, books, organizations, and conferences — filtered for clinical relevance.
Resource libraryCacti is an early-stage biotech open to scientific collaboration. Our team spans Harvard, UT Dallas, Queen's University, and Pfizer alumni. If you are working at the intersection of pain, trauma, and neuroplasticity, we want to hear from you.
Get in touchCacti was founded by people directly affected by chronic pain and professionally steeped in the neuroscience behind it — a combination that shapes everything we build.
Founding CEO
Developmental psychologist. Founded Cacti from lived experience and a decade immersed in the world's top pain laboratories.
Chief Scientific Officer
Harvard-trained. 50+ peer-reviewed publications on plant medicines and novel analgesics.
Innovation Advisor
Harvard-trained pain researcher; co-founder of Nocion, Blue Therapeutics & Cacti, and CEO of Blackbox Bio.
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