Can This New Pain Medication Be a Game Changer?

There are few choices for pain that work well without many side effects, but this may change everything.

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Pain is sometimes called the fifth vital sign because it is present in almost every medical scenario. It can also affect the other four vital signs: blood pressure, pulse rate, temperature and respiratory rate. As a physician I always need to know my patient’s level of pain to know if things are going wrong or right.

The problem is that there are very few good options for treating pain. There is a gap between mildly effective medications with minimal side effects and very effective pain medications with severe side effects.

But a new pain medication could fill that gap. A new study published last month in Pain and Therapy on , brand name Journavx, shows a lot of promise. Although the study was done by the pharmaceutical company making the drug, an FDA review led to its recent . It is the first pain medication with a new mechanism of action .

That new mechanism seems to give it a much better safety profile while still being effective. The large safety study looked at pain control after two common procedures: bunionectomy and abdominoplasty (tummy tuck). In that study the drug…