PainRelief.com: How does suzetrigine differ from other pain medications?
Response: This approval is a historic moment for the ~80M people in America each year who are prescribed a medicine for moderate-to-severe acute pain, half of whom are prescribed opioids, which while effective, have significant safety and tolerability concerns and addictive potential. JOURNAVX is the first and only nonopioid oral pain signal inhibitor, which means that it is a medicine that combines effective pain relief with a favorable safety profile, and it is non-addictive.
JOURNAVX works by blocking the NaV1.8 channel, which has long been considered the holy grail of drug discovery in pain because it’s known to be directly involved in the transmission of pain signals and is only found in the periphery – not in the brain. In contrast, opioids act in the central nervous system to alter your perception of pain, but they do this through activating the brain’s reward system, which is why they can cause opioid misuse, addiction, and opioid use disorder. JOURNAVX does not act on the brain’s reward pathways and is also >31,000 more selective for the NaV1.8 channel vs. other NaV subtypes, ensuring it does not interact with other sensory pathways in the body, including those that lead to addiction.
PainRelief.com: What should readers take away from your report?
Response: This approval is the start of a new era in pain management. Patients and physicians can take away that they now have a new option available to treat moderate-to-severe acute pain: JOURNAVX has been approved with a broad indication – adults with any moderate-to-severe acute pain of any cause – for example broken bones, sports injuries, post-surgery, etc. It’s also an oral medication, so something that can be taken by mouth, with convenient dosing at 2x a day. Based on the many discussions we’ve been having with stakeholders, we anticipate that JOURNAVX will be broadly adopted in both surgical and non-surgical pain conditions and multiple care settings, including hospitals, ambulatory surgery centers and at home.
PainRelief.com: Is there anything else you would like to add? Any disclosures?
Response: We have been planning for and building our team internally for this day for several years and we are ready, and excited, to bring this medicine to patients. We’re incredibly enthusiastic about today’s approval of JOURNAVX and importantly, we have a long-term commitment to transforming pain treatment. In line with our serial innovation strategy, we have a pipeline of additional molecules we’re exploring for the treatment of acute and chronic pain and will provide further updates in due course.
Citation:
- Osteen JD, Immani S, Tapley TL, Indersmitten T, Hurst NW, Healey T, Aertgeerts K, Negulescu PA, Lechner SM. Pharmacology and Mechanism of Action of Suzetrigine, a Potent and Selective NaV1.8 Pain Signal Inhibitor for the Treatment of Moderate to Severe Pain. Pain Ther. 2025 Jan 8. doi: 10.1007/s40122-024-00697-0. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 39775738.
- Vertex press release
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Last Updated on January 31, 2025 by PainRelief.com