The Psychology of a New Drug

Hey there 👋🏻

I recently came across an interesting survey on MedCentral about the new pain medication suzetrigine. In case you haven’t heard much about this drug, it’s a non opioid approved at the beginning of 2025.

I remember when this drug first came out, my entire LinkedIn feed was flooded with the news. Everyone was excited. It’s a different mechanism of action we haven’t quite seen before, and being a non opioid always adds value for clinicians who’ve seen both the good and the bad with opioids.

The survey was titled “Physicians Share Views on Suzetrigine.” It wasn’t just asking whether or not the medication would work based on the data. It did more than that.

It explored the psychology behind how physicians perceive this new medication.

I would’ve thought more than half of respondents would be excited and ready to prescribe it. After all, we haven’t seen many breakthroughs in pain medications in years. But let’s take deeper a look at some of the questions they asked.

They cleverly probed the skepticism around addictive potential. If we take the research at face value, then the question “Do you have confidence that suzetrigine is non-addictive?” should be easy. The answer would be yes. Suzetrigine acts peripherally, not centrally, so the argument for low misuse potential makes sense.

But check out the responses: 50% were unsure, and 15% had no confidence at all.

Now, combine that with two other survey questions, and a deeper story starts to unfold.

Maybe clinicians are waiting to see not just success, but a lack of failure. Fewer surprises. Fewer setbacks.

It reminds me of a saying from The Art of War:

If we can’t guarantee the win, let’s aim not to lose.

Skepticism isn’t a bad thing. It’s normal. A new drug introduces a potential change in practice. And anytime we are faced with change, or even just hear the word "change," our fight or flight response kicks in.

Here’s one last looming question: who answered this survey?

There were 120 clinicians:

• 38 from neurology or neurosurgery

• 31 in pain medicine or anesthesiology

• 24 orthopedic surgeons

• 21 from emergency or critical care

It makes me wonder, if the same survey were sent to pharmacists, would the outcome be any different?

PS: Check out my colleague's take on suzetrigine here:

See you next week.

SP