sufentanil's not new - they've used it for a while in surgery as part of anaesthesia and post-op pain management
it's just this particular patented delivery method that would be new, not the opioid itself (but I suppose it would be 'new' to patient use)
yeah, sublingual delivery is comparable to intranasal for certain drugs (fentanyl being one, so likely this too) - very quick onset, and this delivery device looks much more convenient for addicts than ripping open fentanyl patches for the gel inside. Gotta love Big Pharma