Do we need an opioid 1,000 times more powerful than morphine? The FDA thinks so.
Dsuvia should be available early next year.
By Jillian Mock November 6, 2018
The opioid crisis is an official public health emergency in the U.S.
A new, super-powerful opioid drug just received a stamp of approval from the Federal Drug Administration (FDA). The agency says the drug is necessary to provide pain relief for soldiers, while critics insist the last thing we need is a substance reportedly 1,000 times more potent than morphine.
The drug, called Dsuvia, is a new take on a medication called sufentanil, a 10-times more powerful version of fentanyl (which is itself known to cause overdoses even in small amounts). Dsuvia is a 30-microgram tablet form of this injectable, designed to be taken sublingually—under the tongue—via a special applicator that dispenses a single dose. The FDA’s Anesthetic and Analgesic Drug Product Advisory Committee voted in favor of the new drug, formulated by AcelRX Pharmaceuticals, on October 12. The agency adopted the approval on November 2, and the drug should be available in early 2019.
https://www.popsci.com/fda-new-opioid-dsuvia