Journavx is the first and only approved non-opioid oral painkiller and the first new class of pain medicine approved in more than 20 years.

Despite high demand for an option like Journavx, doctors fear the drug’s price could be a major hangup for insurers, potentially limiting patients’ ability to access it.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (Nasdaq: VRTX) today announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved JOURNAVX™ (suzetrigine), an oral, non-opioid, highly selective NaV1.8 pain signal inhibitor for the treatment of adults with moderate-to-severe acute pain.