Mallinckrodt Announces Collaboration With Medtronic For Intrathecal Therapies
Mallinckrodt announced a business venture with Medtronic to further both pre-clinical and clinical development of intrathecal therapeutics, as well as commercial advancement of the therapy. Both companies aim to make this type of treatment more widely available in the United States for patients suffering from chronic pain and severe spasticity.
The collaboration aims to ease the process of developing intrathecal therapies which are administered via an implanted pump to deliver pain medication directly into the patient’s spinal fluid. This type of therapy requires the use of both a pharmaceutical agent and a medical device. Developing intrathecal therapies is often more complex and takes longer than the developmental processes of other drugs and medical devices alone.
Mark Trudeau, President and CEO of Mallinckrodt stated, "This collaboration will allow each organization to leverage their respective strengths -- Mallinckrodt in specialty pharmaceuticals and Medtronic in implantable drug delivery technology." He went on to say, "Together, we will focus on advancing the development and delivery of therapeutic agents to serve patients suffering from chronic pain or severe spasticity. We are excited about the future of our intrathecal product line and this agreement will enable us to deliver meaningful solutions to this market."
Earlier this month, Mallinckrodt announced it had ended their mutual co-promotion agreement with Zogenix for SUMAVEL® and DosePro®, medications delivered without the use of a needle for migraines.
Specific terms of the agreement have yet to be disclosed, but it is speculated that both companies will provide mutual collaboration in regards to the development of Mallinckrodt’s intrathecal products to be used in Medtronic’s SynchroMed® Programmable Infusion System. Both companies will the responsibility of marketing these drug delivery therapies to increase U.S. adoption of the method and share sales program responsibilities.
Source: http://phx.corporate-ir.net/phoenix.zhtml?c=251847&p=irol-newsArticle_print&ID=1890089&highlight=