A bioengineering technology for producing a peptide-based analgesic using marine organism DNA has been developed in the Russian Far East. This was announced by Lyudmila Tekuteva, Director of the Advanced Engineering School at the Far Eastern Federal University (AES FEFU), during a press conference at TASS.
“We have created a pilot industrial technology and completed preclinical trials of a new drug that can block pain centers. It is not opioid-based but is derived from the DNA molecule of sea anemone venom,” she said.
According to the scientist, next year FEFU and its partners will begin clinical trials of the drug, aiming for state registration by 2030. The medication is expected to enter the Russian market in 2031. Tekuteva stated that it will be produced by a “major Russian pharmaceutical company,” though she did not specify which one.
According to Tekuteva, the new analgesic has no global analogues. “Several countries are working on creating non-opioid pain blockers, and there are already solutions of a different type, but ours is the most advanced to date, as is the readiness level of the technology for industrial launch,” she emphasized.
The global demand for non-opioid painkillers is confirmed by Time magazine, which included such a drug—Journavx (suzetrigine) by Vertex—in its list of the best inventions of 2025.
