TMCnet News
Zogenix is giving Zohydro a marketing overhaul [Medical Marketing and Media](Medical Marketing and Media Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) ZOGENIX, manufacturer of controversial hydrocodone pill Zohydro ER, announced that it would take steps to retool the drug's marketing campaign. The first order of business is to find a partner to raise the pain pill's vis- ibility among primary care physi- cians. The steps were revealed in the firm's Q2 earnings call. Leerink Swann analyst Jason Gerberry wrote in an investor note that Zogenix management is "looking at copromote part- nerships to start in 2015," as well as refocusing the sales team "in territories with the highest growth potential." Zogenix management called out the New England area-spe- cifically Massachusetts-as slow to adopt its pain pill. Given that Massachusetts governor Deval Patrick has tried to ban the pill outright, it makes sense that the drugmaker has decided to reex- amine its sales and marketing investment in the region. The drugmaker also reaf- firmed plans for two abuse- deterrent formulations by the first halves of 2015 and 2016. It may be too little too late. Purdue Pharma's own once-daily, abuse- deterrent hydrocodone tablet received priority review status last month, and the FDA has pledged to decide on the drug by October 2014. If Purdue gets its hydrodo- cone bitartrate treatment, which has anti-abuse properties, on the market first, Zohydro could be dead in the water. That pos- sibility was hinted at by FDA director of pain drugs Bob Rap- paport, who told Bloomberg, "If and when [Purdue], or another manufacturer, are able to create an abuse-deterrent formulation that remains safe and effective for patients, we would certainly give serious consideration to assuring that any [non-abuse- deterrent] formulations are removed from the market." Since its launch, Zohydro has come under fierce scrutiny. West Virginia Senator Joe Man- chin sponsored the "Act to Ban Zohydro" bill. Twenty-eight US attorney generals beseeched FDA commission Margaret Hamburg to reverse the drug's approval, saying the drug "has the potential to exacerbate our nation's prescription drug abuse." Ire stems from the fact that Zohydro was approved without an abuse-deterrent formulation. This leaves the drug open to intravenous drug use and insuf- flation (snorting), even as the CDC has classified prescription drug abuse as an epidemic. -KM Sen. Joe Manchin sponsored the "Act to Ban Zohydro" bill (c) 2014 Haymarket Media, Inc. |