Drug company boosts effort to develop abuse-deterrent pain medications

Egalet Corporation, a Malvern, Pa-based specialty pharmaceutical company, this week announced a collaborative agreement for the development of abuse-deterrent hydrocodone products.

Under the agreement with Japan-based pharmaceutical company Shionogi & Co., Ltd., the Japanese company will pay Egalet $1 million upfront and will also purchase $15 million in common stock in a private placement. Egalet is using proprietary technology to develop two main oral pharmaceutical product candidates: an extended-release form of morphine and an extended-release form of oxycodone, both for treatment of moderate to severe pain.

Shionogi will have exclusive global rights to commercialize the products resulting from this partnership.

Egalet president and CEO Bob Radie said in a Nov. 26 news release, "We believe this collaboration provides validation for our proprietary abuse-deterrent drug delivery platform and positions us to capialize on our technology, both through the products to be developed under the collaboration and by enabling us to develop additional opioid candidates utilizing our platform technology."