An experimental non-opioid painkiller eased pain after surgery about as well as a common opioid combination — while cutting the need for opioid rescue medication — in a mid-stage trial published in a leading medical journal.
The drug, LTG-001, is an oral, selective inhibitor of Nav1.8, a sodium channel that helps carry pain signals along nerves. Its developer, Latigo Biotherapeutics of Thousand Oaks, California, designed it to deliver opioid-level relief without acting on the brain the way opioids do.
How the trial was designed
The Phase 2b study randomized 343 patients with moderate-to-severe pain after abdominoplasty (a “tummy tuck”) into four equal groups: low-dose LTG-001, high-dose LTG-001, the opioid combination hydrocodone/acetaminophen, or placebo, over a 48-hour treatment period. The main measure was SPID48, a summed score of pain-intensity reduction over those 48 hours.
What it found
The high dose scored highest on pain reduction (a least-squares mean of 185.3), ahead of the hydrocodone/acetaminophen group (164.1), the low dose (161.1) and placebo (123.2), with the high dose reaching high statistical significance versus placebo. The high dose also reduced opioid rescue use (by 7.35 morphine milligram equivalents, p=0.01) and left 30 percentage points more patients avoiding opioid rescue altogether (p<0.001). Median time to meaningful relief was 51.7 minutes on the high dose versus 87.5 minutes on placebo.
Why it matters
With opioid dependence a persistent risk of post-surgical pain control, drugs that block pain at the nerve rather than in the brain have drawn intense interest. The results were published July 30, 2026 in the New England Journal of Medicine. Latigo plans a Phase 3 trial in bunionectomy and a safety study in the second half of 2026, with topline results expected in the second half of 2027.