LiPoint NSAID

Twenty to 40 percent of regular users of NSAIDs suffer gastrointestinal side effects associated with significant morbidity and mortality, ranging from nausea, diarrhea and heartburn to ulcers and gastrointestinal bleeding. Over 100,000 hospitalizations and 16,500 deaths per year are directly related to NSAIDs in arthritic patients. In principle NSAIDs are ideal candidates for alternate delivery routes, of which intranasal delivery would seem to be ideal, as it avoids both GI and first-pass liver effects. 

There is an opportunity to develop other NSAIDs as nasal formulations, in particular those that fell out of favor due to excessive GI and renal related side effects despite being effective in the relief of pain and inflammation.

Market Opportunity

There are over 100MM prescriptions written each year for NSAIDS in the United States, and the market for these products is estimated at around $8Bn. Over 33 million people worldwide take an NSAID daily. Despite the failure of the COX-2 inhibitors (which were marketed on the basis of improved GI tolerance) the market continues to grow, although NSAIDs are capturing a smaller share of the chronic pain market as newer drugs and new formulations of opioid analgesics are also growing rapidly.  

LiPoint Fentanyl

The LiPoint formulation is potentially well suited to the administration of pain medications such as the opioids morphine and fentanyl. The second product in the LiPoint portfolio will be a nasally administered fentanyl formulation. With even a modest (15%) share of the breakthrough pain market this product could easily achieve $300MM sales in the third year post-launch.

Market Opportunity

The current worldwide market for cancer breakthrough pain drug treatment is estimated to be worth $1.5bn and represents a growing market opportunity.

Cancer breakthrough pain is characterized by temporary exacerbations of moderate to severe pain in cancer patients that "breakthrough" their around-the-clock opioid treatments. Each episode may be spontaneous or incidental to an activity. It is estimated that the condition is prevalent in 60% - 80% of cancer pain patients across Europe, the US and Japan, representing a total population size of 2.3MM and in ~ 75% of other patients treated with opioids. 2.8MM patients in the United States were treated with opioids in 2006. Of these 32% were treated for back pain, 30% for neuropathic pain, 21% arthritis, 12% cancer and 5% headache.

The market seeks products which have a rapid onset of action and are easy to use.