The drug, suzetrigine, will be sold under the brand name Journavx and is the first new class of pain medicine approved in more than 20 years.

The nonaddictive painkiller suzetrigine (Journavx) is as effective for acute pain as a common opioid treatment

The US Food and Drug Administration has approved Journavx, also known as suzetrigine 50 milligram oral tablets—a first-in-class non-opioid analgesic—to treat moderate to severe acute pain in adults. Journavx reduces pain by targeting a pain-signalling pathway involving sodium channels in the peripheral nervous system before pain signals reach the brain.