Purdue acquires promising pain treatment
STAMFORD, Conn. — Purdue Pharma this week announced that it had VM902A, acquired an allosteric selective tropmyosin receptor kinase A (TrkA) inhibitor, from VM Pharma. TrkA inhibitors are part of a growing class of pain management therapies. VM902A has been tested in Phase I clinical trials, and Purdue plans to continue trials, with Phase II enrollment opening in early 2016.
“As leaders in the pain market, Purdue Pharma’s proven expertise in developing and commercializing therapies for pain, makes them the ideal company to advance the work of the VM Pharma team,” said Jay Wu, PhD, Chief Executive Officer, VM Pharma LLC. “I have confidence they will take this TrKA program forward to develop innovative pain management therapies.”
Under the agreement, VM Pharma received an upfront payment, which when combined with development, regulatory and commercial development payments could end up totaling $213 million.
Purdue sees a lot of potential in the new acquisition.
“The TrKA mechanism and VM-902A specifically hold great promise in treating pain,” Purdue president and CEO Mark Timney said. “This acquisition expands and diversifies our pipeline by adding a potentially innovative non-opioid, non-NSAID treatment to our portfolio.”
Filed under: General Problems
I really hope that this allosteric selective TrkA inhibitor turns out to be a novel class of analgesic that has way more upsides than downsides. I’ve been in the profession long enough to have seen novel therapies promise the moon and end up yielding a bag of rocks. Then there have been some therapies that have given a lot more than anticipated and have been reasonably clean. H2 blockers and PPIs come to mind. It would make me happier than a dog having free run at a steak buffet to see this work well for many sufferers, have few and a relatively mild adverse effect profile, end up being affordable and with many variations marketed by several players and, most importantly, no addiction liabilities.
I’d love to see a class of analgesic come along and gut the DEA’s budget and essentially their current raison d’être. That would be a happy day for all, pain sufferers and those so not afflicted, alike.
I can always dream, right?
Pfffffft…it will either be like Toradol and tear up the GI and kidneys or it will end up being scheduled if there the teeny tiniest chance the DEA thinks it MIGHT bind to even the tiniest of an opiate receptor