This week, the U.S. government signaled a renewed commitment to tackling addiction at its root. In recent remarks, the FDA emphasized a more proactive stance on addiction, including prioritizing treatments that can prevent dependency before it takes hold.

That focus reflects a sobering reality: roughly 75% of people with opioid use disorder report that their first opioid exposure came from prescription drugs. This is where SentryX comes into play. Our mission has been to develop better, safer, non-opioid postoperative pain treatments that can meaningfully reduce opioid dependency without compromising on pain relief or recovery.

Encouragingly, our prevention-focused approach has recently attracted significant attention in the US. Toward the end of 2025, we were invited to present our work at the Washington Health Innovation Council in Washington, D.C., alongside policymakers, clinicians, and industry leaders engaged in shaping the future of the health-care landscape.

Our proposition resonated strongly with those present. One moment in particular stood out: a participant shared that they had personally undergone spine surgery, and that postoperative opioid use had led to addiction. As the room fell quiet, it became clear to everyone that the opioid crisis is ultimately about people, more than policy frameworks or abstract statistics.

Building on this momentum, our CEO Bas Oosterman was invited for a face-to-face meeting with Jim O’Neill, U.S. Deputy Secretary of HHS and Acting Director of the Centers for Disease.

The conversation focused on themes that have since become increasingly prominent in the public debate:

• Addressing the opioid crisis through medical innovation, by preventing opioid exposure at known entry points such as postoperative care.
• Accelerating patient access to promising medical innovation

SentryX’s surgical pain blockers sit precisely at the intersection of these priorities.

A broader policy moment

Only weeks later, these same themes surfaced prominently in broader policy developments. Recent remarks from FDA Commissioner Marty Makary, delivered in the Oval Office, and the launch of the Great American Recovery Initiative signal a renewed focus on proactive, upstream approaches to addressing addiction.

At SentryX, our role in this field is a small but important piece of the puzzle. We aim to contribute by reducing the need for opioids where they are often first introduced to patients: after major surgery.

We are grateful for the opportunity to be part of this broader initiative and honored to contribute our part to an effort that has the potential not only to improve recovery after surgery, but to reduce harm for millions of patients.