FDA approves new pain drug Journavx as opioid alternative

knocks out a protein in the pain pathway to the brain

https://www.wcvb.com/article/vertex-journavx-fda-approval-opioid-alternative/63625701

Vertex began researching the drug in the 2000s, when drug overdoses
were rocketing upward, principally driven by mass prescribing of
opioid painkillers for common ailments like arthritis and back pain.
Prescriptions have fallen sharply in the last decade and the current
wave of the opioid epidemic is mainly due to illicit fentanyl, not
pharmaceutical medicines.

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50% of use is obese - 25% have mental illnesses - 50% have guns - just
to review a few statistics