Difelikefalin
chemical compound
Difelikefalin, sold under the brand name Korsuva, is an opioid peptide used for the treatment of moderate to severe itch. It acts as a peripherally-restricted, highly selective agonist of the κ-opioid receptor (KOR).
Difelikefalin acts as an analgesic by activating KORs on peripheral nerve terminals and KORs expressed by certain immune system cells. Activation of KORs on peripheral nerve terminals results in the inhibition of ion channels responsible for afferent nerve activity, causing reduced transmission of pain signals, while activation of KORs expressed by immune system cells results in reduced release of proinflammatory, nerve-sensitizing mediators (e.g., prostaglandins).
Difelikefalin was approved for medical use in the United States in August 2021. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration considers it to be a first-in-class medication.
Society and culture
Legal status
On 24 February 2022, the Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP) of the European Medicines Agency adopted a positive opinion, recommending the granting of a marketing authorization for the medicinal product Kapruvia, intended for treatment of moderate-to-severe pruritus associated with chronic kidney disease. The applicant for this medicinal product is Vifor Fresenius Medical Care Renal Pharma France. Difelikefalin was approved for medical use in the European Union in April 2022.
Research
It is under development by Cara Therapeutics as an intravenous agent for the treatment of postoperative pain.
“Difelikefalin” enters the record as chemical compound. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Difelikefalin, chemical and compound can confirm, complicate or overturn.
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Stable identifiers, scientific names and standards terminology offer the best bridge between this overview and specialist evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jul 4, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q21098992. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 2021 and 2022.
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This entry incorporates text from “Difelikefalin” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.