MALVERN, Penn., May 24, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Recro Pharma, Inc. (Nasdaq:REPH), a revenue generating specialty pharmaceutical company focused on therapeutics for the hospital and other acute care settings, today announced it has received a Complete Response Letter (CRL) from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Office of Drug Evaluation II regarding the New Drug Application (NDA) for IV meloxicam.
The CRL stated that although the outcome of the pivotal phase III trials demonstrated statistically significant outcomes on the primary endpoints, the FDA is unable to approve the application in its current form. The CRL states that data from ad hoc analyses and selective secondary endpoints suggest that the analgesic effect does not meet the expectations of the FDA. In addition, the CRL raised CMC related questions on extractable and leachable data provided in the NDA.
“We are extremely disappointed for patients and providers who are looking for a non-opioid alternative for relief of pain. We stand behind the body of evidence included in our NDA and are committed to further discussions with FDA in order to bring this important medicine to patients. We intend to request a meeting with the FDA as soon as possible to discuss the points raised in the CRL and look forward to working with the Agency to find solutions that can contribute to solving the current opioid public healthcare problem,” said Gerri Henwood, President and Chief Executive Officer of Recro.
About Recro Pharma, Inc.
Recro Pharma is a specialty pharmaceutical company that operates through two business divisions, an Acute Care, hospital product division and a revenue-generating contract development and manufacturing, or CDMO division, located in Gainesville, GA. The Acute Care division is primarily focused on developing innovative products for hospital and other acute care settings. The Company’s lead product candidate is a proprietary injectable form of meloxicam, a long-acting preferential COX-2 inhibitor. IV meloxicam has successfully completed two pivotal Phase III clinical efficacy trials, a large double-blind placebo-controlled Phase III safety trial, four Phase II clinical efficacy trials, as well as other safety studies. As injectable meloxicam is in the non-opioid class of drugs, if approved, the Company believes it will overcome many of the issues associated with commonly prescribed opioid therapeutics, including respiratory depression, constipation, excessive nausea and vomiting, as well as having no addictive potential while maintaining meaningful analgesic effects for relief of pain. The Company’s CDMO division leverages its formulation expertise to develop and manufacture pharmaceutical products using its proprietary delivery technologies and other manufacturing services for commercial partners who commercialize or plan to commercialize these products. These collaborations can result in revenue streams including royalties, profit sharing, research and development and manufacturing fees, which support continued operations for its CDMO division and it contributes non-dilutive funding for the development and pre-commercialization activities of its Acute Care division.
