Scilex Pharma may soon flee the nest after its parent company Scilex Holding’s board of directors granted permission to explore routes to maximize the company’s value.
That could include going public in the U.S. and international markets, being spun out or a “potential strategic transaction,” Scilex said in a release.
“Scilex Holding Company management believes the potential value of Scilex Pharma may exceed the current valuation of its parent company, Scilex Holding Company, and that a potential spinoff or public listing of Scilex Pharma would serve to unlock the potential value of Scilex Pharma and its parent,” the company noted in the release.
The drugmaker makes three products with one in the pipeline. Scilex estimates its 2018-approved ZTildo, a lidocaine topical for nerve pain linked to post-shingles nerve pain, or postherpetic neuralgia, will exceed $180 million in gross sales this year and peak at $500 million. The treatment should make its way outside of the U.S. next year through exclusive territory distributors in the Middle East and some African countries.
The company is also angling a next-generation, triple-strength formulation of ZTildo for a wider acute pain indication that could pick up $1.2 billion in peak sales by its sixth year on the market, Scilex cited from independent market research by Syneos Health.
Scilex also licensed two products recently. Elyxb, for one, is the only FDA-approved oral solution for migraines with or without aura. The company is currently chasing a Canadian approval with a decision expected in the first quarter of next year. Scilex also markets Gloperba, a liquid oral version of an anti-gout medicine.
Scilex Holding recently initiated the spinout route for its other subsidiary, Semnur Pharmaceuticals. Last month, Semnur merged with special purpose acquisition company Denali Capital Acquisition in a deal worth $2.5 billion.
The deal allows Semnur to continue the path toward commercialization for its lead candidate Semdexa, an injectable corticosteroid gel formulation of dexamethasone sodium phosphate that’s designed to treat patients with moderate to severe lumbosacral radicular pain, or sciatica. That offering, which holds an FDA fast-track designation, could bring in sales of $1.5 billion to $2 billion by the fifth year of launch in just the sciatica indication, Scilex forecast based on Syneos research.
The holding company itself was formed through a similar deal in 2022 when it merged with special purpose acquisition company Vickers Vantage. Before that, Scilex was a subsidiary of troubled Sorrento Therapeutics, which filed for bankruptcy last year.