The FDA shot down Pain Therapeutics' abuse-deterrent opioid, Remoxy, for the fourth time, causing the company's shares to decrease by more than 35 percent, according to Reuters.
Remoxy is a capsule formulation of oxycodone intended to prevent opioid abuse.
In a letter to the company, the FDA said the data gathered from test trials of Remoxy showed there are more associated risks than benefits.
"This is a bizarre conclusion to reach, especially during a time of staggering human and economic toll created by opioid abuse and addiction," Remi Barbier, CEO of Pain Therapeutics, said in a press release.
Following the drug's rejection, Pain Therapeutics launched a strategic realignment, which will involve shifting the company's focus to developing treatments and diagnostic products for Alzheimer's disease.
"They are kind of backed into a corner when their drug gets rejected and there does not seem to be a path forward," Kevin Kedra, an analyst at Gabelli & Co., which owns about 1 percent of the drugmaker's shares, told Reuters. "That’s what companies have to do to stay alive I guess."
Pain Therapeutics' stock dropped 35.3 percent to $1.56 per share on August 6 after Remoxy's rejection. Overall, shares have fallen 40 percent in 2018.
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