Durect rockets on news of $293 million deal for Posimir

US biotech Durect (Nasdaq: DRRX) saw its share leap 43.75% to $1.15 in pre-market trading after it announced a commercialization agreement for it Posimir (SABER-bupivacaine), though it fell back to $0.98 by late morning, but still a rise of 22.5%.

Durect signed a deal with Sandoz, the generics and biosimilars arm of Swiss pharma giant Novartis (NOVN: VX) to develop and market in the USA Posimir, previously known as Posidur – which suffered setbacks with the US Food and Drug Administration. The drug is an investigational locally-acting, non-opioid analgesic intended to provide up to three days of continuous pain relief after surgery.

Sandoz's differentiated product portfolio includes a range of state-of-the-art technologies, formulations and devices. In the USA, Sandoz Inc has a dedicated hospital sales and marketing organization, with expertise and relationships, which will be employed to deliver Posimir to the market.