New Non-Opioid Painkillers Journavx approved by US FDA

A new type of non-opioid painkiller aimed at treating short-term pain in adults is approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

The drug Suzetrigine, known by its brand name Journavx, works by targeting pain signals before reaching the brain.

Its manufacturer Vertex Pharmaceuticals said this allows it to provide effective relief of moderate to severe pain without “the addictive potential for opioids”.

The United States has been struggling with a pain-relieving addiction crisis for years. In 2017, US President Trump called it a “national shame” and declared an emergency in public health.

The FDA said clinical trials had shown that Jounavx reduced pain after surgery and called its approval “an important milestone for public health in acute pain management”.

Every year, tens of thousands of Americans die with 82,000 opioid-involved overdose deaths in 2022, according to the US Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Now in his second period has President Trump said he will hit imports from Canada and Mexico with 25% limit tax Partly to tackle the large amounts of fentanyl – a powerful synthetic opioid – crosses into the country.

The president has also threatened to impose tariffs on China and quotes the country’s fentanyle export as a reason.

Opioids work by stimulating opioid receptors in the brain, blocking pain signals.

During the process, the brain also floods with the neurotransmitter dopamine, creates feelings of euphoria and activates the brain’s reward system.

This makes opioids very addictive. Vertex estimates that almost 10% of acute pain patients who were originally treated with an opioid continue to have prolonged opioid use.

But Journavx works in a different way, By blocking pain signals before they reach the brain.

Vertex says the drug is the first in a new class of pain medicine approved in more than 20 years.

Its CEO Reshma Kewalramani called the approval of a “historic milestone for the 80 million people in America who have prescribed a medicine for moderate to severe acute pain every year”.

Journavx costs $ 15.50 (£ 12.50) per Capsule, Said the business, Adding it is not yet known whether the drug “is safe and effective in children”.