> even the "pain relief" provided by sticking a knife through your skin to the bone is addictive

> the side effect of addiction isn't going to go away

While I agree with your conclusion itself, I disagree that the premise implies the conclusion. The main difference between suzetrigine and opioids, as explained in the article:

    Crucially, opioids don’t just kill pain: they also incite pleasure.
    When the mu opioid receptors present in the reward center of the
    brain are activated, this reduces the secretion of a neurotransmitter
    called GABA, which works to inhibit dopamine-producing neurons. As GABA
    release declines, dopamine spikes, lighting up the reward center and
    inducing pleasure.

The "pain relief" provided by sticking a knife though your skin to the bone is caused by endorphine, which functions similarly to opioids, and that's why it's addictive.

Since suzetrigine doesn't affect mu receptors in the brain, this mechanism doesn't apply.

But I'm almost sure it will have some other unintended side effects. Morphine had them, heroin had them, methadon had them... And each time the inventors were sure they didn't.