By Pat Anson, PNN Editor

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved a controversial new opioid drug intended to relieve moderate to severe pain in wounded soldiers and trauma patients. 

Dsuvia is a tablet form of the potent opioid sufentanil. It was developed by AcelRx Pharmaceuticals and the Department of Defense – in part to treat battlefield wounds – but became embroiled in the national hysteria over opioid drugs and addiction.

Dsuvia was developed to fulfill an unmet need in military and civilian hospitals, where patients in acute pain are usually treated with opioids intravenously or with a pill.

Each Dsuvia tablet comes in a single dose plastic applicator. The tablet is taken sublingually under the tongue, where it quickly dissolves and is absorbed into the body.

“There is currently no way available to rapidly treat your pain without sticking you with a needle,” said Dr. Pamela Palmer, an anesthesiologist who co-founded AcelRx and is Chief Medical Officer.

“If you broke your femur and are obese or elderly or on a blood thinner, that can be very painful with a lot of bruising. If you take a pill, you have to swallow it with water and wait for it to kick in, which could take up to an hour. Right now, that’s all that’s available. For the first time, we’ve developed a small tablet that goes under the tongue and dissolves in about six minutes.”

“The FDA has made it a high priority to make sure our soldiers have access to treatments that meet the unique needs of the battlefield, including when intravenous administration is not possible for the treatment of acute pain related to battlefield wounds,” said FDA commissioner Scott Gottlieb, MD.

Dsuvia’s efficacy and safety were tested in two placebo-controlled studies with over 200 patients. The company said the drug was well-tolerated and effective across a range of patient ages and body sizes.

But because Dsuvia is so potent – it’s 10 times stronger than fentanyl – it drew the ire of critics who believe diversion is inevitable.

“We know from looking at other potent opioids that have been put on the market in the last four years that once these drugs get past the FDA, there’s very little, if any, control over them, no matter what the sponsor says prior to the time they come on the market,” Raeford Brown, MD, told ABC News.

Brown is chairman of the FDA advisory committee that voted 10-3 to recommend approval of Dsuvia.  Brown was not present for the vote, but called on the FDA to ignore the panel’s recommendation and stop the approval of “this dangerously unnecessary opioid medication."

“It doesn’t seem reasonable to place another potent opioid on the market at this time, especially when we’re currently still writing 200 million prescriptions for opioids a year,” said Brown.

Politicians also weighed in.

“An opioid that is a thousand times more powerful than morphine is a thousand times more likely to be abused and a thousand times more likely to kill,” said Sen. Ed Markey (D) Massachusetts. “It makes no sense to approve an opioid painkiller that has no benefits over similar medications and against the advice of experts.”

The FDA is requiring that Dsuvia not be dispensed for home use, should only be administered by a healthcare provider, and should not be used for more than 72 hours. Palmer says extra precautions would also be taken by distributors, wholesalers and hospitals to prevent theft and diversion.

“I’m not saying that drugs delivered to hospitals never get stolen or abused, but that’s a tiny sliver” of the opioid problem, she said.