Exclusive: Citius Pharmaceuticals Exec Chairman On Product Pipeline, Potential $1B TAM

Citius Pharmaceuticals Inc. CTXR Executive Chairman Leonard Mazur told Benzinga CEO Jason Raznick Thursday that he's invested $26.5 million of his own money in the specialty pharmaceutical company. 

Citius is comprised of "all-in entrepreneurs," Mazur said on Benzinga's "Power Hour" YouTube show. 

Mazur On Mino-Lok Product: Citius' lead asset Mino-Lok is an anitbiotic lock solution drug that is used in the treatment of catheter-related bloodstream infections. Mino-Lok is in late stage three clinical studies, Mazur said.

"We are very confident that this will ultimately be approved by the Food and Drug Administration," he told Benzinga. 

When a catheter gets infected, the only current solution is to remove and replace it, the Citius exec said.

The process is costly and painful, Mazur said, adding that Mino-Lok is a life-saving and unique solution.

"There is no competition here except remove and replace."

The Market Size: Seven million catheters are inserted into patients annually, and about 500,000 of those become infected.

The total addressable market in the U.S. is between $750 million and $1 billion, according to Citius.

Outside the United States, the problem is much worse Mazur said, attributing the difference to lower standards in hospitals.  

More On A Citius Subsidiary: NoveCite is a subsidiary of Citius Pharmaceuticals working on a new age cellular therapy drug.

The goal of NoveCite is to develop, manufacture and commercialize mensenchymal stem cells.

The drug is a therepeutic that can potentially be used to treat COVID-19, Mazur said. 

The shareholders and management of Citius are "in this together," he said. 

"One day everybody is going to look back and say, 'I remember when that stock was trading at $1.70.'" 

CTXR Price Action: Citius Pharmaceuticals was trading up 2.36% to $1.81 at last check Thursday.

Image by Steve Buissinne from Pixabay.