Sorrento Therapeutics Subsidiary, Scilex, Receives FDA Approval for Non-Opioid ZTlido (lidocaine topical system) 1.8% for Post-Herpetic Neuralgia Pain

In continuation of my update on lidocaine

Sorrento Therapeutics, Inc. , received approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for ZTlido (lidocaine topical system) 1.8%. ZTlido is indicated for the relief of pain associated with post-herpetic neuralgia (PHN), also referred to as post-shingles pain. ZTlido is a major advancement in analgesics because of its proprietary adhesion technology demonstrating 12-hour wear with efficient lidocaine delivery, even during exercise.

“ZTlido was designed to solve a problem that is commonly reported with transdermal/topical patches: they don’t stay on. Based on the adhesion study results with ZTlido, we believe that ZTlido product will be welcomed by healthcare providers, patients and payers who are looking for an effective and efficient, local pain treatment,” said Dr. Henry Ji, Chairman and CEO of Sorrento and Scilex. “We also intend to explore the expansion of ZTlido into additional indications and the underlining platform technology of ZTlido for other active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) and combinations of APIs. As demonstrated by the NDA approval for ZTlido, our team successfully executed on our development plan for the product and now, looks forward to executing on our commercial and strategic alliance plans as well.”

“Topical lidocaine is an important option for healthcare providers to have in their armamentarium for treating PHN, a difficult-to-treat neuropathic pain,” stated Dr. Jeff Gudin, Director, Pain Management and Palliative Care, Englewood Hospital and Medical Center. “The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s guideline of non-opioid treatments for chronic pain recognizes topical lidocaine as an alternative first-line therapy. ZTlido now offers providers and patients this option.”

ZTlido’s anhydrous topical system is based on a novel technology that is designed to achieve superior adhesion and drug delivery efficiency. ZTlido only requires 36 mg/topical system versus 700 mg/patch of Lidoderm® (lidocaine patch 5%), the US reference product, to achieve the same therapeutic dose of drug. The safety and efficacy of ZTlido was bridged to Lidoderm in comparative pharmacokinetic studies that demonstrated bioequivalence between products.

According to an FDA report of the product quality of transdermal drug delivery systems, adhesion was the most widely reported quality defect of transdermal patches.¹ With a clear need for improved patch adhesion systems, ZTlido was specifically designed to maintain optimum skin contact throughout the 12-hour administration period. Adhesion is critical to the safety and efficacy quality of a topical system. Simply, the topical system must be in contact with skin to deliver the drug. ZTlido adhesion performance was demonstrated in a clinical study in fifty-four (54) healthy volunteers where forty-seven (47) subjects (87%) had adhesion scores of 0 (≥ 90% adhered; essentially no lift off the skin) for all evaluations performed every 3 hours during the 12 hours of administration, and seven (7) subjects (13%) had adhesion scores of 1 (≥ 75% to < 90% adhered; some edges only lifting off the skin) for at least one evaluation, and no subjects had scores of 2 or greater (< 75% adhered). In the same study 91% (49) of the subjects presented with a score of 0 at the end of the 12-hour administration period. The remaining 5 subjects had a score of 1.

In a separate Phase 1 comparative adhesion study in normal healthy subjects (n=44), ZTlido demonstrated superior adhesion (p <0.0001) to Lidoderm at 3 hours that improved over the 12-hour administration period.

According to recent IMS data, more than 100 million prescription lidocaine patches were sold in the US in 2017. Sorrento intends to have Scilex complete the final steps necessary to commercial launch of ZTlido in the US with the objective to make the product commercially available to patients sometime in 2018.

Sorrento Therapeutics Subsidiary, Scilex, Receives FDA Approval for Non-Opioid ZTlido (lidocaine topical system) 1.8% for Post-Herpetic Neuralgia Pain

Potential new painkiller provides longer lasting effects ..........

Medications have long been used to treat pain caused by injury or chronic conditions. Unfortunately, most are short-term fixes or cause side effects that limit their use. Researchers at the University of Missouri have discovered a new compound that offers longer lasting painkilling effects, and shows promise as an alternative to current anesthetics.

"Because of its versatility and effectiveness at quickly numbing pain in targeted areas, lidocaine has been the gold standard in local anesthetics for more than 50 years," said George Kracke, Ph.D., associate professor of anesthesiology and perioperative medicine at the MU School of Medicine and lead author of the study. "While lidocaine is effective as a short-term painkiller, its effects wear off quickly. We developed a new compound that can quickly provide longer lasting relief. This type of painkiller could be beneficial in treating sports injuries or in joint replacement procedures."

Painkillers work by interfering with the nervous system's transmission of nerve signals that the body perceives as pain. Lidocaine is used as an injectable pain reliever in minor surgical or dental procedures, or as a topical ointment or spray to relieve itching, burning and pain from shingles, sunburns, jellyfish stings and insect bites. The new compound developed at MU, boronicaine, could potentially serve many of those same functions as an injectable or topical painkiller.

National Academy of Sciences member M. Frederick Hawthorne, Ph.D., director of MU's International Institute of Nano and Molecular Medicine and a pioneer in the field of boron chemistry, synthesized boronicaine as a derivative of lidocaine. By changing aspects of the chemical structure of lidocaine, the researchers found that the new compound provided pain relief that lasted five times longer than lidocaine. In pre-clinical, early stage studies, boronicaine provided about 25 minutes of relief, compared to about five minutes of pain relief with lidocaine.

"Although some conditions may warrant the use of a short-lasting painkiller, in many cases a longer lasting anesthetic is a better option," Kracke said. "Having a longer lasting anesthetic reduces the dosage or number of doses needed, limiting the potential for adverse side effects." While other types of painkillers can provide longer pain relief than lidocaine, they can cause heart toxicity, gastrointestinal issues and other side effects. Preliminary findings show no toxicity in single-dose studies of boronicaine, though more studies are needed.

"Boronicaine could have distinct advantages over existing painkilling medications," said Hawthorne, who also serves as the Curators' Distinguished Professor of Chemistry and Radiology at MU. "We're conducting more research into the side effects of the compound, but in time it could very well become a useful material to use as an anesthetic."

Ref : http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/cmdc.201402369/pdf

Potential new painkiller provides longer lasting effects  

Lidocaine IV injection as pain killer after ambulatory surgery ?

We know that, Lidocaine or lignocaine is a common local anesthetic and antiarrhythmic drug. Lidocaine is used topically to relieve itching, burning and pain from skin inflammations, injected as a dental anesthetic or as a local anesthetic for minor surgery.

Now researchers from University of Virginia, Charlottesville, have come up with interesting info about the same drug. As per the claim by the researchers low doses of lidocaine given intravenously can help to control pain after common ambulatory surgery procedures. Intravenous lidocaine may offer a safe, inexpensive, and effective option for improving pain control after minimally invasive or minor surgery, reports the new study led by Dr Danja S. Groves of University of Virginia, Charlottesville. The results are surprising, because local anesthetics such as lidocaine are usually injected close to the nerve to numb the area for surgery. Though the anestheas (higher dose) are toxic, previous studies have found that that IV lidocaine injection is safe in small doses. Though the mode of action and anti inflammatory activity are still to be expalined, is a good achievement...

Ref : http://www.newswise.com/articles/view/559452/