Advertise With UsAdvertise on our extensive network of industry websites and newsletters.
Get the PBR newsletterSign up to our free email to get all the latest PBR
news.Azur Pharma (Azur) has entered into an agreement with Elan Pharmaceuticals to acquire worldwide rights, excluding Europe, of Elan's analgesic therapy Prialt (ziconotide intrathecal infusion), used for pain relieving.
Subscribe to our email newsletter
Prialt, a non-opioid analgesics, works by targeting and blocking N-type calcium channels on nerves in the spinal cord that ordinarily transmit pain signals. It has been evaluated as an IT infusion in more than 1,200 patients participating in chronic pain trials.
The therapy will be used in the US to treat severe chronic pain in patients for whom intrathecal therapy is warranted, and who are intolerant of or refractory to other treatment, such as systemic analgesics, adjunctive therapies, or IT morphine.
Seamus Mulligan, chairman and chief executive of Azur Pharma, said: “We are pleased to add Prialt, an important therapeutic for the management of severe chronic pain, to our portfolio. We look forward to welcoming the Prialt team to our organisation and to their continued support for this product. We believe Prialt will grow with continued investment in the brand. The patents covering Prialt run through December 2016.
“Our business will have 170 employees at closing and had revenues of approximately $100m for 2009. We expect to add other products and development projects to both our CNS and Women’s Health businesses during the course of 2010 and look forward to the continued growth of our business.”
The acquisition is expected to close in the second quarter of 2010.