Title: Initial Clinical Experiences with Suzetrigine In Outpatient Pain Management Clinics at a Single Institution

Authors: Chen T¹, Ren R^1,2, Chan W¹, Poeran J¹, Kirksey M^1,4, Maalouf D^1,4, Saleh J³, Memtsoudis S^1,4, Liu J^1,4, Malhotra A^1,4, Kramskiy V^1,4, Richman D^1,4, Waldman S^1,4, Rim F^1,4, Gungor S^1,4, Sideris A^1,4

¹Pain Prevention Research Center Department of Anesthesiology, Critical Care & Pain Management, Hospital for Special Surgery, New York, NY, USA

² Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY, USA

³ Pharmacy Department, Hospital for Special Surgery, New York, NY USA

⁴ Department of Anesthesiology, Weill Cornell Medicine, New York, NY, USA

 

Introduction

The United States Food and Drug Administration approved Suzetrigine (Journavx^TM) in January 2025, representing a first-in-class, non-opioid, highly selective NaV1.8 pain signal inhibitor for the treatment of adults with moderate-to-severe acute pain¹. Because of its recent market release, data on its current usage remains limited. Therefore, this study aimed to describe patterns in new prescriptions and management of patients already using  Suzetrigine in a high-volume outpatient pain management clinic in New York.

Materials & Methods

After IRB approval for an institutional electronic-health record-based registry capturing new patient visits with qualifying diagnoses (primarily spine-related pain, neuropathic pain conditions) at the outpatient pain management clinics at Hospital for Special Surgery (HSS) and Suzetrigine prescribing practices (IRB#2021-0076 & IRB#2025-1248), patients who were prescribed Suzetrigine between February 1st, 2025 to September 1^st, 2025 were identified with the Epic SlicerDicer tool. The registry captures encounters from over 26 providers in 8 different pain management clinic locations of HSS in the tri-state area. Patient characteristics, primary diagnoses, Suzetrigine dosing regimens, side-effects/adverse events and self-reported efficacy--where available--were extracted. Descriptive statistics were used to present the findings.

Results

Since approval, prescriptions for Suzetrigine markedly increased over a six-month period (Figure 1). A total of 93 distinct patients receiving care at one of the outpatient pain clinics had a prescription for Suzetrigine (Figure 1 & Table 1). Clinical indications included acute post-procedural pain, complex regional pain syndrome, acute pain from re-injury, or off-label for acute flares of existing chronic pain conditions such as erythromelalgia, myofascial pain, radiculopathy, spondylolisthesis, spondylosis, arthritis, hernias, or sciatica that were not responding to current medications and treatments. Patients received prescriptions for a median number of thirty Suzetrigine tablets (2-weeks’ worth); fifteen received their prescription from a provider outside of HSS, thirteen received Suzetrigine from an HSS surgeon, and the remaining patients received the prescription from an HSS pain management physician or physiatrist. Four patients did not fill the prescription due to cost and uncertainty regarding the medication’s effectiveness. Of the patients who took the medication and for whom data was available in the medical record, eleven did not experience any pain relief, three reported discontinuing due to side effects (n=2 nausea; n=1 dizziness), and fifteen experienced significant pain relief.

Discussion 

Our findings showed a steady increase in patients using Suzetrigine over time, and some with noticeable improvements in pain. Suzetrigine was prescribed on and off-label for a variety of acute and chronic pain conditions. The average age of our patients receiving the medication is higher than previous Phase III studies and a larger proportion were also men. Because data remains limited, additional trials and pharmacoepidemiological studies are needed to evaluate Suzetrigine’s safety and efficacy.

 

 

References

1. 1.      FDA Approves Novel Non-Opioid Treatment for Moderate to Severe Acute Pain. (2025, January 30). FDA. https://www.fda.gov/news-events/press-announcements/fda-approves-novel-non-opioid-treatment-moderate-severe-acute-pain

 

 

Figure 1. Number of Outpatient Pain Management Registry Patients Prescribed Suzetrigine

 

 

 

Table 1. Demographic Summary of 93 Outpatient Pain Management Registry Patients

Age, mean (SD)	67 (15.6)
Female, n (%)	47 (50.5)
BMI, mean (SD)	24.6 (4.0)
Race, n (%)
White or Caucasian	86 (92.5)
Asian	2 (2.2)
Black or African American	2 (2.2)
Ethnicity, n (%)
Not Hispanic or Latino	90 (96.8)
Hispanic or Latino	1 (1.1)

 

 

 

 

 

Table 2. Frequent Primary and Secondary Diagnoses Across 93 Patients

Most frequent primary diagnosis, n (%)
Lumbar radiculopathy	15 (16.1)
Low back pain (various reasons)	13 (14.0)
Stenosis	9 (9.7)
Knee pain (various durations and etiologies)	8 (8.6)
Spondylosis without myelopathy and/or without radiculopathy	7 (7.5)
Most frequent secondary diagnoses, n (%)
Stenosis	25 (26.9)
Radiculopathy (various regions)	15 (16.1)
Herniated disc	9 (9.7)
Complex regional pain syndrome	8 (8.6)
Sciatica	8 (8.6)

 

 

Table 3. Patient-Reported Efficacy and Reason for Prescription for 26 Patients

Patient-Reported Efficacy, n (%)
Pain relief	15 (57.7)
Post-op/post-procedural pain	6 (40.0)
Flare up/current meds not working for chronic pain          condition	5 (33.3)
Other acute pain	3 (20.0)
No pain relief	11 (42.3)
Post-op/post-procedural pain	3 (27.3)
Flare up/current meds not working for chronic pain          condition	7 (63.6)
Other acute pain	1 (9.1)
Discontinuation due to side effects, n (%)	3 (10.3)