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The Food and Drug Administration ( FDA ) has greenlit a raw type of pain medication for the first time in more than 20 years . What ’s more , the novel painkiller does n’t admit opioids like many painkillers currently on the market do .

The FDAannouncedThursday ( Jan. 30 ) that it had O.K. the new class of prescription pain pill called suzetrigine , betray under the brand name Journavx .

A photograph of a person holding two Journavx pain relief tablets.

The FDA has approved Journavx to treat moderate-to-severe acute pain.

" Today ’s favourable reception is a historical milepost for the 80 million people in America who are dictate a medicine for moderate - to - serious acute pain each year,“Dr . Reshma Kewalramani , chief operating officer and president ofVertex Pharmaceuticals , the drug ’s manufacturer , said in astatement .

Journavx can cover temperate to severe acute painfulness , meaning short - term pains due to thing like strong-arm trauma or surgical operation , according to the argument . Doctors often treat this type of pain with anodyne , or painkiller , that can contain opioids .

Opioids are a class of drugs that turn by activating specific receptors in the brain and body and by doing so blocking painful sensation signal . While they may offer effective pain management , they can also stimulate a " high " or a common sense of euphory . These issue can reenforce the act of contract the drug and thus make them very addictive , according to theNational Institute on Drug Abuse(NIDA ) .

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Opioid addiction , or opioid use disorderliness , is apublic wellness crisis in the U.S.In 2022 , 76 % of drug overdose deaths involved opioids — found in both legally prescribed music and illegal drugs , such as heroin — which add up to 82,000 people , fit in tothe Centers for Disease Control and Prevention ( CDC ) . The immense majority of opioid drug overdose deaths involve illegally manufactured fentanyl , fit in to NIDA .

The freshly approved drug suzetrigine does n’t produce a high like opioids can . alternatively , Journavx blocks pain signals in peripheral pain - sensing neurons , or nociceptors . These nerve cell are in the peripheral nervous system of rules , signify they ’re not the brain , so they can cater pain fill-in without carrying the habit-forming potential of opioids , consort to Vertex Pharmaceuticals .

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Researchers tested Journavx in trials involving 874 participants who experienced penetrating pain follow surgery , according to the FDA ’s affirmation . The researchers conducted two randomize , twofold - unsighted trials , which means the drug was randomly assigned to some patients while others got aplacebo , and neither the medico nor the patients knew who had the real medication . The participant also had accession to Motrin — a non - opioid — if postulate . ( Ibuprofenworks by mess with enzymesinvolved in producing pain signals and excitation . )

The visitation found that patient role take Journavx had much heavy pain reduction than those with the placebo , according to the FDA statement . Journavx has been approved to treat adults only , and Vertex Pharmaceuticals notes that it ’s currently unknown whether the drug is dependable and efficacious for children .

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vulgar Journavx side effects include itchiness , a blizzard , muscle muscle spasm and increase levels ofcreatine phosphokinase , an enzyme often associated with accent or trauma that some medicinal drug can labor up in compactness .

a teenage girl takes a pill

Journavx may also temporarily hinder distaff fertility , reducing the hazard of becoming pregnant during treatment , according to Vertex Pharmaceuticals . Patients who have concerns about this should talk with their doc before taking the drug , the party suggest .

" Today ’s favourable reception is an authoritative public health milestone in acute pain management,“Dr . Jacqueline Corrigan - Curay , acting theater director of the FDA ’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research , said in the statement . " A new non - opioid anodyne sanative class for piercing pain offer an opportunity to palliate sure danger associated with using an opioid for pain in the neck and provides patients with another treatment choice . "

This clause is for informational purposes only and is not entail to put up aesculapian advice .

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