Research & Development

Research

We are a specialty pharmaceutical company engaged in research, development and commercialization of product intended to address medication abuse and misuse, utilizing our proprietary Aversion® and Impede™ Technologies. Our products and product candidates are based on widely-used commercial products and do not alter the safety and efficacy of the active pharmaceutical ingredients that are intended to effectively relieve pain while simultaneously discouraging common methods of opioid product misuse and abuse including:

• intravenous injection by forming a viscous gelatinous mixture when tablets and capsules are dissolved in solvents suitable for injection
• nasal snorting by inducing disliked nasal discomfort when tablets or capsules are crushed and snorted

In addition to our opioid product candidates utilizing Aversion® Technology, we are investigating and developing novel mechanisms to incorporate abuse deterrent features into additional abused and misused pharmaceutical products. In this regard we have developed Nexafed™, a pseudoephedrine hydrochloride (“PSE”) tablet product utilizing our Impede™ Technology.  Impede™ Technology utilizes a proprietary mixture of functional inactive ingredients intended to limit or impede extraction of PSE from the tablet for use as a starting material in producing the illicit drug methamphetamine. We are also developing an undisclosed non-opioid product candidate utilizing Aversion® Technology intended for the treatment of attention deficit disorder.

Development

Acura’s innovative Aversion® Technology platform has been successfully utilized in developing multiple opioid analgesic product candidates. Additional product candidates in development are supported by laboratory and bioequivalence studies.

We believe that the application of Aversion® Technology to non-opioid abused products may have a similar regulatory process and could result in a significant market opportunity for us.

Manufacturing

Acura manufactures clinical trial supplies of drug products at our Culver facility in volumes sufficient to meet U.S. Food and Drug Administration standards for New Drug Applications.