“The Food and Drug Administration on Thursday approved a new type of nonopioid painkiller from Vertex Pharmaceuticals.

The drug, Journavx, or suzetrigine, was approved to treat moderate to severe acute, or short-term, pain in adults. Experts say the drug, which is billed as nonaddictive, could reduce the number of opioids patients are prescribed after surgery or be used by patients who can’t take other pain medications…

Opioids work by stimulating opioid receptors in the brain, blocking those pain signals. During the process, the brain also floods with the neurotransmitter dopamine, creating feelings of euphoria and activating the brain’s reward system. That’s why opioids can be incredibly addictive.  

Vertex’s drug works in a completely different way, by blocking the pain signal from traveling to the brain in the first place. The signal is triggered by sodium molecules rushing into the nerve ending, sending the message onward to the brain. 

Suzetrigine is a sodium channel blocker, the same type of drug as lidocaine. Lidocaine, a local anesthetic, works by blocking all sodium channels in the area it’s applied to — for example, the gums during dental work. A sodium channel blocker taken as a pill, such as suzetrigine, must be much more precise, as sodium channels are found throughout the body and are critical for heart and brain function. Suzetrigine blocks nerve pulses from just one sodium channel, called NaV1.8, from reaching the brain and being interpreted as pain.”

From NBC News.