As someone who has chronic pain, tapentadol has been a godsend for me. Its an opioid which also has norepinephrine agonist effects to help reduce pain in a multi mechanistic way. It was developed as a 2nd generation version of Tramadol, which is also a very amazing drug. Tapentadol is brand name Nucynta and cost 1500 for a 30 day supply compared with morphine at &lt;$50. But tapentadol is an engineered alkaloid..designed to be less addictivr, more selective for the mu opiod receptor and norepinephrine agonism for better medicinal use than morphine. I agree with other posters about prices necessarily harming those who are poor and more inclined to abuse drugs due to a dismal outlook on life. On the other hand, having taken various opiates and seen how effective and therepeutic Tapentadol is, makes me want to reward Depomed who researched and developed an improved version of their already very successful Tramadol. They took on an endeavor that needs to be justified by some type of risk rewarding lucrativity. Its not all carnal..<p>My energy levels and ability to be active during an entire day was borderline geriatric before I started taking tapentadol.  Opiates are addictive but are also the gold standard for pain relief. Pain reduces energy levels, its fatiguing. I would sometimes want to just cry out of how weak I felt. No one should have to &#x27;just deal with it&#x27; when it comes to nerve splitting pain.