The Food and Drug Administration approved Vertex Pharmaceuticals' non-opioid painkiller pill, a new alternative for pain relief that comes without the risk of addiction.  It's a milestone after a long history of unsuccessful efforts to develop painkillers without the destructive dependency of opioids,

Journavx is the first and only approved non-opioid oral painkiller and the first new class of pain medicine approved in more than 20 years.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals on Thursday won approval from the Food and Drug Administration for a non-opioid pain drug, clearing the way for the rollout of a product that has simultaneously sparked high hopes and mixed opinions among physicians and market analysts.