First non-opioid-based therapy for opioid withdrawal symptoms wins US backing

17 May 2018

Specialty pharma firm US WorldMeds has been approved to market Lucemyra (lofexidine), the firm’s opioid withdrawal mitigation therapy, in the USA.

The nod from the US regulator is a significant fillip for the Kentucky, USA-based firm, as the country struggles with a spiralling opioid epidemic, blamed in part on pharmaceutical marketing practices, that contributes to tens of thousands of premature deaths every year.

The drug, which was approved under the Priority Review scheme, works by suppressing the neurochemical surge that produces acute and painful symptoms of opioid withdrawal.

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