New app connects pain patients to doctors

Patients experiencing pain can connect to doctors for evaluation through a new app. Called Informed Pain Care, the platform connects patients to a licensed healthcare professional for evaluation of acute pain and, when appropriate, access to treatment options.

The app was designed to close gaps in the care of acute pain, Pouria Sanae, co-founder and CEO of ixlayer, said in a news release. Ixlayer develops direct-to-patient (DTP) healthcare platforms that allow for virtual care. For patients, the app acts as a central hub providing a communications center, access to healthcare professionals across the United States, eprescribing and prior authorization. as well as benefit verification. The company can also provide patients with options for lab testing, including at-home sample collection kits, mobile bloodwork testing and digital results

The app was developed in collaboration with Vertex Pharmaceuticals, which markets Journavx (suzetrigine), a non-opioid medication for treating moderate-to-severe acute pain in adults. Journavx was approved by the FDA in January 2025 and became available in March 2025. In the first quarter of 2026, more than 350,000 prescriptions were filled, and Vertex recorded revenue of $29 million.

The wholesale acquisition cost of Journavx is $465 for a 30-count bottle and $1,550 for a 100-count bottle. Vertex offers a $30 copay card for patients with commercial insurance. The terms of the copay assistance say that the offer is not valid with any health insurance plan that implements accumulator or maximizer programs that prevent assistance from counting toward the patient’s deductible or out-of-pocket expenses.

As of May 2026, Journavx has been included on the formularies of the three large commercial PBMs and includes about 240 million covered lives. Vertex has also signed a contract with a Medicare Part D place for coverage of Journavx.

Additionally, last month, Vertex announced that CMS has approved the inclusion of Journavx in the NOPAIN Act separate payment list, with a retroactive payment date of Jan. 23, 2026. The act provides for payments for certain non-opioid treatments for pain relief. It went into effect on Jan. 1, 2026, and is set to expire Dec. 31, 2027. Qualifying treatments are listed here. The law was enacted to expand access to non-opioid pain treatments for Medicare patients to help reduce opioid use and abuse.