CUPERTINO, Calif., Aug. 27 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- DURECT Corporation (Nasdaq: DRRX) today reported that it has signed an exclusive long term excipient supply agreement with respect to REMOXY(R) with King Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NYSE: KG). This agreement stipulates the terms and conditions under which DURECT will supply to King, based on DURECT's manufacturing cost plus a specified percentage mark-up, two key excipients used in the manufacture of REMOXY.
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"While we've been providing King with these key excipients starting in 2008, we're pleased to have now entered into this long term arrangement with King that formalizes the details of our supply agreement," stated James E. Brown, DURECT's President and CEO. "Given King's strong presence in pain management and commitment to be a leader in the development of products designed to reduce the potential for misuse and abuse, we look forward to supporting King's efforts to bring REMOXY to market."
REMOXY, based on DURECT's ORADUR(TM) technology, is an investigational drug that is a unique, controlled release formulation of oxycodone for moderate-to-severe chronic pain designed to reduce potential risks of unintended use. In mid-2008, an NDA for REMOXY was accepted by the FDA and was granted Priority Review. In December 2008, the FDA issued a Complete Response Letter related to REMOXY. In July 2009, King Pharmaceuticals met with the FDA to discuss the Complete Response Letter and King Pharmaceuticals has stated that it anticipates that the resubmission of the NDA could occur mid-year 2010.
About ORADUR(TM) Technology
ORADUR is a proprietary technology designed to transform short-acting oral capsule dosage forms into sustained release oral products, with the added benefit of being less prone to abuse (e.g. by crushing or alcohol or water extraction) than other controlled release dosage forms on the market today.
Corporate Relationships
In December 2002, DURECT licensed to Pain Therapeutics, Inc. the right to develop and commercialize on a worldwide basis REMOXY and other oral sustained release drug candidates using the ORADUR technology which incorporate four specified opioid compounds. Under the license agreement, DURECT is reimbursed for formulation and other work performed under its agreement, and will receive additional payments if certain development and regulatory milestones are achieved with respect to the licensed drug candidates. In addition, if commercialized, DURECT will receive royalties for REMOXY and the other licensed drug candidates of between 6.0% to 11.5% of net sales of the drug candidate depending on sales volume as well as a mark-up on DURECT's supply of key excipients used in the manufacture of the licensed drug candidates.
