The FDA approved a sufentanil sublingual tablet (Dsuvia, AcelRx) for the management of acute pain in adults that is severe enough to require an opioid analgesic in certified medically supervised health care settings, such as hospitals, surgical centers and emergency departments.
The drug comes with a complicated approval history. An FDA advisory committee recommended 10-3 in October that the agency approve the product. However, the panel’s chairman, Raeford E. Brown Jr., MD, a professor of