Jerry Abrams, a 64-year-old marketing strategist, struggles with chronic pain from degenerative spine disease. Running, which he cherished, is now impossible due to intense pain. He has tried opioids but is cautious about their addictive potential. The FDA has approved Journavx, a new non-opioid medication that blocks pain signals, offering hope for chronic pain patients. However, its approval is limited to short-term acute pain, making it inaccessible to those with chronic conditions due to insurance restrictions. Despite positive expectations from the medical community, coverage remains inadequate.
For Abrams, losing running felt like "the loss of a loved one that friend who's been with you every day you needed him." The constant pain in his lower back makes running impossible.
The Food and Drug Administration approved a new non-opioid drug earlier this year called Journavx. It's a pill for severe acute pain that works by blocking pain signals from where someone hurts.
But Journavx is the first new kind of painkiller in more than 20 years, and the medical community is cautiously optimistic that Journavx doesn't have the same addictive potential as opioids.
Journavx's FDA approval was based on studies of patients right after surgery. But even in those cases, insurance coverage has been slow.
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