TTNP...FDA Approves New Opioid Addiction Treatment Tech

Bloomberg reported Thursday that the FDA granted approval to Titan Pharmaceuticals Inc TTNP and partner Braeburn Pharmaceuticals for the first implant in the U.S. for the treatment of addiction to heroin and opioid-based painkillers.

First to Market

The product, Probuphine, will hit the market just as Congress and the White House have been working together to tackle what is being called an “epidemic” of heroin and opioid painkiller abuse in the country. The implant will deliver to patients a drug known as buprenorphine, a less-addictive alternative to methadone for treating opioid addiction.

Playing Catch Up

Other biotech companies developing similar tools saw their shares declining in the wake of Titan’s regulatory triumph. British spin-off company Invidior PLC has an injectable in late-stage study, and BioDelivery Sciences International Inc BDSI has an injectable in its product pipeline.

Shares of Invidior were down 0.4 percent today at $172.40 an hour into Friday’s trading.

BioDelivery Sciences, which already sells a form of buprenorphine, saw its shares rise just over 2 percent at $2.14 Friday morning.

Shares of Titan Pharmaceuticals rose 12.5 percent following the news Thursday, and were trading at 12-month highs Friday.