On January 30th, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved Journavx (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-signaling pathway involving sodium channels in the peripheral nervous system, before pain signals reach the brain. This sounds like a huge breakthrough! It is touted as being non-addictive and having no euphoric effect. The most fascinating part of the story is that it was discovered after researchers learned about a family of fire walkers in Pakistan and determined that they lacked a gene allowing pain signals to fire in their skin. Members of this family could walk over hot coals without flinching. As reported in a CNN news release, “They knew that they were on something hot; they knew they could feel the coals. So it’s not impacting the nerves that do heat and touch and stuff like that. It is just these pain-conducting nerves,” said Stuart Arbuckle, chief operating officer of Vertex Pharmaceuticals. “They were, in every other way, normal.”
Still, it took scientists 25 years to figure out how to exploit that pain-conducting mechanism to develop a medication.
It is not clear how useful it will be with chronic pain. It is expensive, but it is exciting to think there might be something to help our patients with excruciatingly painful wounds such as those from vasculitis, ischemia, or pyoderma gangrenosum.
Dr. Fife is a world renowned wound care physician dedicated to improving patient outcomes through quality driven care. Please visit my blog at CarolineFifeMD.com and my Youtube channel at https://www.youtube.com/c/carolinefifemd/videos
The opinions, comments, and content expressed or implied in my statements are solely my own and do not necessarily reflect the position or views of Intellicure or any of the boards on which I serve.
