The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved Journavx (suzetrigine) oral tablets on Thursday as a first-in-class non-opioid analgesic to treat acute pain in adults. “Today’s approval is an important public health milestone in acute pain management,

The prescription pills, sold under the brand name Journavx and made by Vertex Pharmaceuticals, are taken twice a day and represent the first new class of pain medications in 20 years—and the first non-opioid painkiller since that class first appeared on the market in the 1980s.

On Thursday, in a major step forward in pain management, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved a new nonopioid painkiller that could change the way doctors treat acute pain. The drug, developed by Vertex Pharmaceuticals,