Pharmaceutical Business review

AcelRx Pharmaceuticals completes divestment of DSUVIA to Alora Pharmaceuticals

With regard to the closure of the deal, AcelRx got a total of around $2.7m from Aguettant and Alora.

Alora agreed to acquire all assets associated to DSUVIA in March this year.

The assets included inventories, equipment and intellectual property in return for consideration of $1.1m at closing, a 15% royalty on commercial sales of DSUVIA, 75% royalty on sales of DSUVIA to the Department of Defense and up to $116.5m in sales-based milestones.

In relation to the closing of the deal, AcelRx decided to completely repay its senior loan with Oxford Finance, thereby making the company debt-free following closure of the transaction.

AcelRx CEO Vince Angotti said: “As previously announced, we are thrilled to begin the new chapter of AcelRx focused on our late-stage development product portfolio.  We are confident we found the right partner in Alora to accelerate the commercialisation and fully realise the potential of DSUVIA for our shareholders.

“Our complete attention is now directed towards the approval of Niyad and Fedsyra, both of which we believe will address a clear unmet need for physicians and generate long-term value for AcelRx.”

AcelRx Pharmaceuticals’ lead product candidate is Niyad, which is a lyophilized formulation of nafamostat.

Nafamostat is presently being studied under an investigational device exemption (IDE) as an anticoagulant for the extracorporeal circuit.

It has secured Breakthrough Device Designation Status from the US FDA.

The firm is also developing two pre-filled syringes in-licensed from its partner Aguettant – Fedsyra, which is a pre-filled ephedrine syringe with an expected NDA filing in the first half of this year; and PFS-02, a pre-filled phenylephrine syringe with an expected NDA filing next year.