Opiant Pharmaceuticals Announces Final Tranche of NIDA Grant Award for its Investigational Treatment for Opioid Overdose
SANTA MONICA, Calif., March 31, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Opiant Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (“Opiant”) (NASDAQ: OPNT), a specialty pharmaceutical company developing medicines to treat addictions and drug overdose, has been awarded the third and final tranche of $1.8 million from the total grant of approximately $7.4 million from the National Institute on Drug Abuse (“NIDA”), part of the National Institutes of Health (“NIH”), to support the development of OPNT003, nasal nalmefene, for the treatment of opioid overdose. The grant was awarded under award number 5U01DA046093-03.
With the substantial increase in drug overdose deaths across the United States, primarily driven by rapid increases in overdose deaths involving synthetic opioids, including illicitly manufactured fentanyl1, NIH leadership has highlighted the need for stronger, longer-acting formulations of antagonists to help prevent overdose deaths2.
“The award of the final tranche of NIDA’s grant validates the progress we are making to develop OPNT003 for submission to the FDA,” said Roger Crystal, M.D., President and CEO, Opiant Pharmaceuticals. “If approved, we believe OPNT003 can make a meaningful contribution to the NIH strategy identifying scientific solutions and novel pharmacotherapies to save lives from opioid overdose, particularly in the face of more powerful and potentially dangerous synthetic opioids, such as fentanyl.”
The Company also announced that Dr. Crystal will participate in a panel presentation entitled, “Confronting the Opioid Crisis in the Age of Fentanyl and the Coronavirus Pandemic,” at the Rx Drug Abuse and Heroin Summit taking place virtually April 5-9, 2021. The panel will take place on April 6 from 2-3 p.m., EST. Further details are available at:
/2021/RxSummit2021/agenda.asp?startdate=4/6/2021&enddate=4/6/2021&BCFO=&pfp=Browse%20by%20Day&tn=&cpf2=&cus2=&pta=
In addition to the grant from NIDA, the development of OPNT003 is supported by a contract with the Biological Advance Research and Development Agency.
About Opiant Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
Opiant Pharmaceuticals, Inc., the company that developed NARCAN® Nasal Spray, is building a leading franchise of new medicines to combat addictions and drug overdose. For more information, visit: .
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References
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Provisional Drug Overdose Death Counts. March 8 , 2021. Retrieved from .
- Volkow, N., Collins, F. The Role of Science in Addressing the Opioid Crisis. N Engl J Med. 2017. 377:391-394
For Media and Investor Inquiries:
Ben Atkins, Opiant
(310) 598-5410
