Pfizer has left its partner Pain Therapeutics shocked by an unexpected decision to withdraw from a deal between the two companies relating to opioid agonist Remoxy. Investors too were left reeling, sending shares of both Pain Therapeutics and Durect, the developer of the technology behind Remoxy, plummeting.
Pfizer was conducting five clinical trials for Remoxy with which it planned to refile the drug in the US in mid-2015, and said that the deal termination sprang from a review of these data: "The decision to discontinue was based on an internal review of the top-line results from the five clinical studies and our ongoing portfolio prioritization," the company told Scrip