U.S. FDA Approval of Non-Opioid Painkiller

This is a US news story, published by Guardian, that relates primarily to Journavx news.

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safer painkillers

Guardian

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Health

Painkillers without the addiction? The new wave of non-opioid pain relief

Summary

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76% Informative

In January , the FDA approved the first new type of painkiller in more than two decades .

The drug, called suzetrigine, is not an opioid.

Opioid painkillers such as oxycodone and morphine are still used to treat severe pain in the UK and US .

Between 1999 and 2017 , the number of overdose deaths in the US involving prescription opioids soared almost 400% .

Journavx was developed by Vertex Pharmaceuticals and belongs to a class of drugs that block voltage-gated sodium channels (VGSCs) The drug does not act on the brain the way opioids do and instead acts outside the brain, meaning there is no addiction risk.

Experts agree that there is a significant need for non-opioid painkillers in chronic pain.

Cebranopadol is angling for FDA approval after it succeeded in two late-stage clinical trials of acute pain after various surgeries.

The painkiller activates the -opioid receptor, but also activates the nociceptin opioid receptor.

The result is a painkiller with similar effectiveness to an opioid but with much lower risk.

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informal

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English

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