As migraine sufferers can attest, there is potential big business for any company that can deliver long-lasting, immediate relief. San Diego-based Zogenix is literally staking its future on it. As Xconomy reports, in Zogenix's September IPO filing with the SEC, Zogenix said the company is "largely dependent on the commercial success of Sumavel DosePro," a needle-free device it's using to deliver a migraine therapy.
Zogenix began marketing the DosePro in January. VentureWire reports that the company in its latest IPO prospectus says its Phase IV study "met its primary endpoint of increased patient satisfaction." Unfortunately, VentureWire does not tell us what kind of yardstick Zogenix was using to measure "satisfaction," so we'll have to wait until next year, when "the company plans to reveal full details of the study," presumably after a successful IPO (the company aborted a planned offering back in 2008).
The DosePro, about the size of a fat marker, delivers the migraine drug sumatriptan subcutaneously and without needles. It's prefilled with the therapeutic and is also disposable. The company says the DosePro is the first drug product approved by the FDA that allows for the needle-free, subcutaneous delivery of medication. The patient snaps off a plastic tip, flips back a lever and presses the end of the delivery system to the skin of the abdomen or thigh. The force of a small amount of compressed nitrogen pushes the liquid sumatriptan through skin in less than one-tenth of a second, according to the company.
Zogenix is also partnering with European companies and, using a formulation of hydrocodone licensed from Elan, is in late-stage clinical trials for treatment of severe, chronic pain for patients who need around-the-clock opioid therapy.
- read the VentureWire report
- and background from Xconomy's Bruce Bigelow on Zogenix's planned IPO
- plus more details on the technology
- if you're a more-visual learner, check out this video on YouTube on how the Sumavel DosePro works
- another, more slick video (with up-tempo music) can be found on the Zogenix website