Will Vertex Pharmaceutical’s non-Opioid Pain Killer Win in the U.S. Market
Reshma Kewalramani is CEO of $119 billion Vertex Pharmaceutical whose non-opioid pain killer drug won U.S. approval
(Photo: Reshma Kewalramani, CEO, Vertex Pharmaceuticals.)
February 1, 2025
This week, Journavx, an oral non-opioid pain killer produced byVertex Pharmaceuticals, was approved for use in treatments by the United States Food and Drug Administration. “The approval is a historic milestone for the 80 million people in America who are prescribed a medicine for moderate-to-severe acute pain each year,” Reshma Kewalramani, Chief Executive Officer of the Boston based company, said in a statement.
About 40 million Americans are prescribed opioid pain killers. Since the opioid drugs are addictive, about 10% of the patients develop an addiction to them. Worse, in 2022, 82,000 Americans died from opioid overdose.
Journavx, a pain-signal inhibitor, “provides effective relief of pain without the addictive potential of opioids,” Vertex said in a statement. The drug “could redefine the management of pain and become a foundational treatment option for people with all types of moderate-to-severe acute pain, where options aside from opioids have been so desperately needed,” Jessica Oswald, a Vertex Acute Pain Steering Committee Member, said in a statement.
The prescription medicine is recommended for use to treat adults with moderate-to-severe short term acute pain. Vertex states that it is not known if the prescription “is safe and effective in children.”
Acute pain is a serious and potentially disabling condition often caused by surgery, accident, or injury. Poorly controlled acute pain can lead to reduced quality of life, development of chronic pain, and increased burden on the health care system and society.
In 2024, Vertex is forecast to earn more than $4 billion in net income on $10.9 billion in revenues. Since 2021, Vertex’s stock has nearly doubled to a market value of $119 billion. This rise is mainly due to Wall Street expectations that the company’s profits will be boosted by sales of its non-opioid pain killer. Sales of pain killers in the U.S. is estimated to total more than $30 billion a year. Vertex has the potential to win a third of the market, according to analysts.
In addition to the pain killer, Vertex has other medicines approved to treat the underlying cause of cystic fibrosis, severe sickle cell disease and a genetic blood disorder, which affects the production of hemoglobin. Vertex’s future drug pipeline includes drugs to treat kidney disease, type 1 diabetes, inherited muscle disorders, and a genetic disorder which does not produce enough of a type of protein.
Reshma Kewalramani, 51-years-old, was named CEO of Vertex in 2020. She joined the company in 2017 as Chief Medical Officer and Executive Vice President of Global Medicines Development and Medical Affairs.
Earlier, until 2017, she was at Amgen, a biotech company based in suburban Los Angeles, including as head of U.S. medical organization. Kewalramani joined Amgen in 2004, performing various roles in Global Clinical Development and Medical Affairs.
In 2004, she completed her fellowship in nephrology at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital. In 2001, she completed her internship and residency in internal medicine at the Massachusetts General Hospital. She received her medical degree from the Boston University School of Medicine, 1998, as a graduate of the school’s seven-year liberal arts/medical education program.
Born in Bombay, India, Kewalramani and her family immigrated to the US when she was 11 years old. She told a Boston University alumni publication that, “As an immigrant, you learn to be resilient and comfortable with change. Even though I spoke English, no one knew it because of my heavy accent. My clothes were different. I wasn’t familiar with pop culture, but I learned to work really hard and be grateful for opportunities.”
While at Boston University, Kewalramani got outstanding clinical training. She said, “Imagine learning how to draw blood—it takes a few tries…I did a lot of work in the sciences, but I also took German and anthropology because I was interested in them.”
Speaking of her interest in research while at Boston University, Kewalramani said, “What attracted me was starting with a problem no one knows the solution to.” “Experimentation—beginning with an unknown and ending with something that was not there before—excited me.”
In 2023, Kewalramani earned $21 million in income as CEO of Vertex, including $15 million in stock awards; in 2002 she earned $16 million, and $15 million in 2021. She also owns shares in Vertex worth around $35 million.
Vertex’s pain killer drug, Kewalramani said in a statement, is “the first new class of pain medicine approved in more than 20 years, (and) we have the opportunity to change the paradigm of acute pain management and establish a new standard of care.”