Locator: 48876MRNA.
***********************
No-Pain Gains
or
No Pain, No Gain
From recent issue of The New Yorker. Link here.
Fascinating.
Nerve cells have ion channels.
One thing nerve cells do is transmit pain.
The McGill Pain Questionnaire, developed in 1971, comprises seventy-eight words for pain.
To transmit nerve signals, nerve cell membranes have ion channels which open and close and in the process transmit the sensation of pain from the periphery of the body to the central nervous system, the brain.
There are five kinds of ions that are involved in the nerve membrane ionic channels:
- sodium
- calcium
- potassium
- chloride
- hydrogen
A NaV1.8 nerve blocker is a drug that inhibits the function of the Nav1.8 sodium channel, which is predominantly found in peripheral nerve cells involved in transmitting pain signals. By blocking this channel, these drugs can reduce or prevent the transmission of pain signals from the site of injury to the central nervous system, potentially offering relief from various types of pain, particularly neuropathic pain.
In January, 2025, this year, suzetrigine, under the name Journavx, became the first new non-opioid painkiller in more than twenty years to receive FDA approval for acute-pain treatment.
Journavx, suzetrigine, was developed by Vertex Pharmaceuticals.
Bummer.
Link here.
Vertex stock nose-dived Tuesday after the biotech company said it wouldn't advance its next-generation pain drug into additional testing.
The decision follows a lackluster midstage study in which the drug, dubbed VX-993, missed its mark in patients with acute pain following a bunion removal. Vertex Pharmaceuticals (VRTX) said it won't run additional tests of VX-993 as a solo treatment for acute pain.
Further, following discussions with the Food and Drug Administration, Vertex said it doesn't see a path forward in acute pain treatment for its approved pain drug, suzetrigine (Journavx), as a treatment for broad neuropathic pain. Instead, the company will focus on diabetic neuropathy, a smaller 20% piece of the overall chronic pain market. The drug is already approved as a treatment for moderate to severe acute pain in adults.
The news "will likely dampen exuberance around how easily VRTX will be able to capture the broadest pain revenue opportunity," RBC Capital Markets analyst Brian Abrahams said in a report. Analysts had valued the pain opportunity at $25 billion.
On today's stock market, August 5, 2025, shares skidded 20.6% to 374.98. Vertex stock undercut its 50-day and 200-day moving averages, but remained within a consolidation with a buy point at 519.88, MarketSurge shows.
From wiki:
However, in clinical studies, suzetrigine (Journavx) no superiority over hydrocodone and paracetamol (acetaminophen) in terms of pain reduction was shown.
The approval of Journavx was met with criticism from medical professionals, where its efficacy was deemed inferior to opioid analgesics. Moreover, there are no studies comparing suzetrigine with full-dose opioids, and its cost-effectiveness is disputed.
Most patients in clinical trials required rescue NSAID administration. An important drawback compared to opioids is that suzetrigine exhibits CYP3A4-mediated drug interactions and there is limited long-term data regarding its use.
After all that time, money, and resources, suzetrigine was no more effective than Tylenol.
