The drug, Journavx by Vertex Pharmaceuticals, blocks pain signals to the brain, making it nonaddictive. The Food and Drug Administration approved a new medication Thursday to treat pain from an injury or surgery. It is expensive, with a list price of $15.50 per pill. But unlike opioid pain medicines, it cannot become addictive.

The prescription pills, sold under the brand name Journavx and made by Vertex Pharmaceuticals, are taken twice a day and represent the first new class of pain medications in 20 years—and the first non-opioid painkiller since that class first appeared on the market in the 1980s.

The drug, shown to be almost as effective as opioids for short-term pain, is the first fundamentally new kind of painkiller to win FDA approval in more than 20 years.