The FDA approved a new pain relief drug that may end patients’ dependence on opioids.

By Harrison Luba

Scientists may have finally discovered a drug that can lead to a solution to address opioid addiction. In January 2025, the FDA approved a new non-opioid pain relief drug called suzetrigine (sold as JOURNAVX). This is the first drug of its type that has made it to market and may be the first step in ending the opioid crisis.

A new review published in the Journal of General Physiology in April 2025, discusses how suzetrigine may be as effective as opioids in reducing pain. The drug worked similarly to an opioid for short-term pain when used over a 48-hour period after some surgeries. In addition,  it significantly reduced pain in patients with diabetic peripheral neuropathy, a condition that causes pain in the extremities. It has these effects because, unlike opioids, its targets receptors are not present in the brain. This means that there is no potential for addiction. There were some mild side effects from the drug such as itching and muscle spasms, but less nausea and vomiting than other treatments.

“It’s sort of like nature knew what it was doing,” says Armen Akopian, referencing suzetrigine. He is a professor and researcher at the University of Texas, San Antonio and an author of the review. He says there are not many drugs which act as specifically as this medication. Opioids, on the other hand, are centrally acting. This means that they interact with both the spinal cord and the brain leading to potential addiction and overdose.

The takeaway of the study: Suzetrigine provided pain relief comparable to opioids in certain cases, but without the drawbacks of addiction.

Scientists have tried to understand pain for centuries. In 1862, cocaine was first isolated to treat pain from eye surgery. At that time, there was very little knowledge about the biology of pain. In the 1950s, scientists discovered how nerves worked. This allowed them to create models to test their theories. In 1964, researchers had used pufferfish venom as a way to model the mechanisms of these pain-sensing nerves. Opioids were popularized in the 1990s, especially by pharmaceutical companies. Then, opioid use skyrocketed and the crisis began. 

Opioids are among the most powerful and commonly used pain relievers today. Unfortunately, their high potential for addiction has fueled the opioid crisis. The Department of Health and Human Services recently declared opioids as a public health emergency, and just a few years ago, over 9 million Americans were treated for opioid use disorder and over 80,000 died from overdose.  

Akopian believes that pain-relieving opioids should be eliminated entirely from the pharmaceutical industry, but there are no substitutes yet that can safely and effectively reduce pain.

Any successful pain relief drug must meet three criteria. First, the drug must be nontoxic. Secondly, the drug must be effective with limited side effects. Finally, the drug must not have the risk of addiction. The opioid hydrocodone, for example, is a very strong pain reliever. However, interactions with the brain mean a high chance of addiction. Tylenol (acetaminophen) and Advil (ibuprofen) are over-the-counter pain meds with few side effects butare often not strong enough for chronic or severe pain. Lidocaine, on the other hand, is a powerful non-opioid local numbing agent. It targets all neurons involved in feeling pain, but is deadly in high doses.

Researchers believe suzetrigine could satisfy these three requirements. But experts caution against viewing it as a wonder drug. Pain is not a simple condition that can be treated uniformly. What works in one case may not work, or even be harmful in another case. To truly move forward in the field, researchers say we need treatments tailored to different types of pain.

One of the main obstacles in the field of pain is surprisingly simple. Doctors struggle to accurately measure pain itself. In medicine, a common question is, “what is your pain from 1-10?” In research, an experimenter will apply a painful sensation to a subject and tell them to push a button when they start to feel pain. Both of these illustrate the central issue in studying human pain: pain is subjective, and people experience and describe pain differently depending on their biology, psychology, and even culture.

“I think like most things in life, it’s a combination of genetics and experience,” says Daniel Harper, assistant professor and a pain medicine researcher at Emory University, who was not involved in writing the review. His lab focuses on developing an unbiased way to measure and characterize a patient’s pain, which could help doctors better diagnose and address patient needs. Dr. Harper sees suzetrigine as an exciting step in the right direction, but points out that it only addresses acute pain, or pain that lasts a short amount of time. Chronic pain, which affects millions of Americans, is still an unsolved problem.

Even so, scientists studying suzetrigine are finding promising results. For decades, opioids have been used as a one-size-fits-all solution, fueling the ongoing crisis. A drug that can treat pain without affecting the brain, and therefore without the potential for addiction, offers a glimpse of a better future.

Akopian believes suzetrigine will not be the final solution, but the beginning of a new chapter. Scientists do need to further analyze the data to fully determine the impact this drug can have. The majority of new drugs are not usually the most effective versions of the drug. One of the early cholesterol drugs, the medication Lipitor, was approved but caused tremendous muscle pains. Now, later modifications of these types of drugs have led to more potent medications with fewer side effects.

“They will definitely modify the original drug. That is my prediction,” says Akopian. He believes that researchers will develop a similar drug that is even safer and more effective than suzetrigine and could help eliminate the opioid crisis and offer hope to millions suffering from pain and addiction. Suzetrigine may not be a universal cure, but it signals a shift away from treating pain as a one-size-fits-all problem, with opioids as the only solution and toward safer, more personalized approaches to pain management.