The Pentagon wants ketamine wafers as a battlefield medicine option

The US Defense Department awarded Singapore-based iX Biopharma a development contract worth nearly $41 million for Wafermine, a sublingual ketamine wafer proposed for battlefield pain relief. The dissolving formulation is intended to deliver medication without an injection, potentially simplifying treatment of moderate to severe acute pain in austere settings. The company is seeking a possible emergency-use authorization following a federal military-emergency declaration, while full regulatory approval remains a separate process. Development funding and an application for emergency use do not mean the product is already approved or issued routinely to combat medics.