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The first non-opoid painkiller

246 points by ortegaygasset

by ggm

12 subcomments

Colloquially acetaminophen/paracetamol and ibuprofen are "painkillers" but this is in a different class, it's amazing to have something which performs like the opioid pain relief but without at least some of the side effects.
It's the first non opioid painkiller applicable for situations like post operative use.
I'd have loved this after my hernia op, the last thing you need with that is opioid induced constipation.

by OJFord

4 subcomments

I think a better title here than:
> The first non-opoid [sic] painkiller
might be:
> The first non-opioid nociceptive pain-killer
Nociceptive pain being that by actual damage to tissue, as opposed to neuropathic pain like a headache or inflammation that you might take a (non-opioid!) NSAID for.
https://www.iasp-pain.org/resources/terminology/

by mousethatroared

3 subcomments

I think the medical community needs to take more seriously that different people have different pain tolerances.
My wife, daughter and I are very pain tolerant. Out of curiosity, I've turned down freezing for fillings and I even turned down some of pain meds before abdominal surgery. I've never taken the post op opioids, including when I had my impacted wisdom teeth removed.
My other kid, on the other hand, is a whimp. She gets anxious simply if I replace her earrings.
My use case for anesthesia is very different from my kid. I struggle to appreciate why anesthesia is even necessary beyond the need to restrain the patient.
My kid could go into a full blown panic attack from pain.
Yet I don't see anesthesiologists ever asking "how good are you with pain?"

by perching_aix

4 subcomments

> Another example involves nerve growth factor inhibitors like tanezumab. Although tanezumab alleviated inflammatory pain from conditions like osteoarthritis, Phase III trials revealed an unfortunate side effect: rapidly progressive osteoarthritis. Researchers hypothesized that because patients felt so much better, they overused their arthritic joints, accelerating damage. Although further trials were conducted at lower doses and with restrictions, the FDA ultimately voted against its approval.
Really not sure how to feel about this part lol, I mean I get it, but at the same time this is very ugh.

by shakna

2 subcomments

The title... Confuses me. Especially with a handful on non-opiod painkillers sitting in my history. Gabapentin? Heck, ibuprofen?
Especially when the article itself compares it to ibuprofen:
> If paracetamol and ibuprofen are inadequate for pain relief, Journavx can now be prescribed as the next alternative treatment, instead of mild- to moderate-strength opioids.
"suitable for treating post-surgery pain" isn't something to cut, just for a better title. It just makes the clickbait stench of that first line even worse.
This is a better paracetamol. Which is awesome, and something we need. This is not a world first.

by pentaphobe

0 subcomment

Interesting that the author chose that title despite the existence of NSAIDS [^1] and paracetamol(acetaminophen) - the latter of which they even mention (but only in the context of combination with opioids)
Did I miss something?
EDIT: answered in sibling post, thanks @ggm!
[1]: Non Steroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drugs

by pcthrowaway

1 subcomments

I'm always surprised that Kratom (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mitragyna_speciosa) doesn't come up more in these conversations. In addition to being a powerful painkiller, it helps manage opioid withdrawals.
I believe it's still somewhat legal for consumption in the U.S., though other countries have been moving to ban it to varying degrees, since it can be used recreationally, though it isn't known to produce the same intensity of euphoria as opioids, and can also be addictive, though I don't believe it to produce as severe withdrawals as opioids.
All in all I think it's a sadly understudied and underutilized medicine, which is the unsurprising result of pharmaceutical companies having less incentive to study plant medicines

by Snoozus

2 subcomments

This is clickbait, there are at least two classes of non opioid painkillers in use since a long time. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Analgesic

by cheshire_cat

0 subcomment

This news article claims that the results of the Phase II trials where not great?
https://www.painnewsnetwork.org/stories/2024/12/23/more-lack...
As someone else already mentioned in this thread, in Europe there is already metamizole which is used for post-surgery pain. Anyone knows if suzetrigine is more effective than metamizole?

by Traubenfuchs

1 subcomments

Anyone better than me in pharmacology able to explain how suzetrigine compares to (high dosage?) ambroxol?
They are both Nav1.8 blockers, but in Germany you can get lots of ambroxol for cheap and OTC.

by ck2

0 subcomment

While suzetrigine is fascinating and great to see development in that field
technically Low‐Dose-Naltrexone (aka LDN) is not an opioid and reduces pain
(however it does it by modulating opioid receptors so okay I guess it's opioid-related)
found more background here
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2025/06/02/the-radical-de...

by ChrisMarshallNY

0 subcomment

We'll have to see how this pans out, once people start getting it prescribed.
If you want to see what a "non-addictive" painkiller is like, watch Dopesick.

by Perenti

0 subcomment

The paragraph on the relation to Brugada Syndrome hits home, as I have that rare disease. What isn't clear is if it's safe for Brugada patients - a hell of a lot of drugs are not advisable for us. As I also have CRPS type II (complex regional pain syndrome) I'd like a non-narcotic strong pain killer that doesn't induce arrhythmia.

by cadamsdotcom

0 subcomment

One thing people barely notice is how well the FDA is working.
A government agency with very high trust that partners with companies and helps to get things approved but only when they’re safe and has gotten more efficient since Covid is a rare and precious thing.

by api

0 subcomment

If you read the parts about the discovery, and how the trail went, you'll see how basic research into all kinds of things feed into innovations like this.
Which is why some bean counter or ideologue cutting this stuff will halt progress all over the place.

by hamilyon2

0 subcomment

Everyone's pain tolerance is different. I am also very aware on stomach and kidney issues those drugs have.
Having said that, ketorolac is a very potent pain inhibitor, can be prescribed for 6 days, causes no dependence issues. Pretty sure can be prescribed more. Cheap, out of patent protection. Took it when broke my hand, it was a miracle of painkiller.

by Y_Y

1 subcomments

Other comments have mentioned NSAIDs, but also there's nitrous oxide, ethanol, meditation, etc.
This is a silly headline.

by echelon_musk

3 subcomments

> Traditional opioids mimic opium, a compound found in the poppy plant that contains morphine.
Huh? How can a compound contain another compound. I thought opium was the term for an extract which contained opiates (compounds) and not the other way round.

by rconti

0 subcomment

Typo in title

by croemer

0 subcomment

s/opoid/opioid/

by lloydatkinson

0 subcomment

Paracetamol etc is an opiod?

by hinkley

1 subcomments

No. Not even the 100th.
Wikipedia:
> At least 100 distinct phytocannabinoids have been isolated from cannabis, although only four (i.e., THCA, CBDA, CBCA and their common precursor CBGA) have been demonstrated to have a biogenetic origin.[6] It was reported in 2020 that phytocannabinoids can be found in other plants such as rhododendron, licorice and liverwort,[7] and earlier in Echinacea.
Cannibinoid receptors are separate from opioid receptors.

by cwmoore

0 subcomment

decaf anyone?

by bheadmaster

1 subcomments

[flagged]

by reliablereason

3 subcomments

According to our psychological theories any sufficiently fast acting and strong painkiller will be addictive as long as it removes or reduces any type of pain.
Seams strange if this one truly will not have "drug abuse" connected to it.