2025-10-28
Recently, the FDA released a draft guidance titled 'Development of Non-Opioid Analgesics for the Treatment of Chronic Pain,' aimed at accelerating the development of safe and effective non-opioid drugs and reducing the abuse of prescription opioids.
Opioid analgesics themselves are highly addictive, and coupled with the persistent problem of drug abuse, the morbidity and mortality associated with the non-medical use of prescription opioid analgesics have been increasing year by year in the United States.
With innovations in pain targets and technological breakthroughs, non-opioid analgesics represented by Nav1.8 inhibitors are beginning to emerge. Nav1.8 is a voltage-gated sodium channel selectively expressed in peripheral nociceptive neurons (nociceptors), responsible for transmitting pain signals (action potentials). Since it is not expressed in the brain, it does not cause addiction. In addition to Nav1.8 inhibitors, there are currently a variety of non-opioid analgesics under investigation, including SSTR4 agonists, monoclonal antibodies targeting nerve growth factor (NGF), and P2X receptor-based drugs.
