Acura announces clinical study success for abuse deterrence technology

Acura Pharmaceuticals Inc. announced this week that clinical study results have indicated that its LIMITX technology in deterrence medication has been shown to have positive results.

Specifically, the AP-LTX-400 medication was able to inhibit the speed of the release of opioid materials from other medication.  This study was a cohort 2 study and the company notes that it mirrors results that were reported in the cohort 1 study.

"We are excited the dosing levels studied in cohort 2 of Study 400 confirmed the LIMITX technology concept of reducing [maximum drug concentration (Cmax)] as higher, more abused doses are ingested,” Acura VP of Technical Affairs Dr. Al Brzeczko said. "Study 400 provided us with a wealth of data that we will mine to adjust our formulation to achieve better performance for the one and two tablet doses. We will also look to see if we can improve upon the abuse deterrent performance as well."

Over the course of the study, there was an average of 22 percent reductions in Cmax when three or more tablets were taken.

The tablets consisted of 2 mg of hydromorphone hydrochloride and different groups took two, three, four, six or eight tablets at regular intervals. Participants also took doses of naltrexone and had regular blood samples analyzed.