New non-opioid pain drug helps reduce pain after surgery

Embargoed until: Publicly released: 2023-08-03 07:00

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A new drug for acute pain, which is not an opioid and works in a different way from current drugs, has been shown to reduce pain over a period of 48 hours after a 'tummy tuck' or bunion removal surgery. The drug, known as VX-548, works by blocking a sodium channel that is found on nerves in the peripheral nervous system. The trials found that people who received high-dose VX-548 had reduced acute pain compared to those given a non-active placebo treatment, however, the same effect was not seen for lower doses.  An accompanying editorial says that limited conclusions can be made about the drug's effectiveness at this stage as it has not been directly compared with other painkillers, such as a codeine/paracetamol combination.