Signature Therapeutics, Inc., Presents Four Scientific Posters Today at PAINWeek 2013 Meeting

PALO ALTO, Calif., Sept. 5, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Signature Therapeutics, Inc., today presented four scientific posters at the PAINWeek 2013 national conference in Las Vegas.  The posters illustrate the company's (i) trypsin-labile, immediate- and extended-release opioid prodrugs that release the parent opioid following oral administration; (ii) results of extended-release prodrugs oxycodone and hydromorphone withstanding tampering and abuse using standard crushing and extracting techniques; and (iii) First-in-man study findings of its trypsin-liable extended-release hydromorphone prodrug.

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Every year in the United States prescription opioid abuse is responsible for tens of thousands of deaths and tens of billions of dollars in increased health care costs.  Wes Sterman, President and CEO of Signature Therapeutics, commented, "We believe that our prodrug technology approach creating abuse-deterrent opioid drugs has the potential to greatly impact the public health crisis of prescription drug abuse."

About The Opioid Abuse Challenge

The abuse and misuse of prescription opioid drugs has reached epidemic proportions in the United States. Despite efforts to develop opioid drug formulations that are resistant to tampering, abusers will soon match the advances in pill/tablet formulation technology with new ways to abuse these drugs.  Typical methods of abuse of prescription opioid drugs include inhaling or injecting crushed pills or chewing intact pills.  Current efforts to thwart these modes of abuse, involving improved tablet-formulation technology to make tablets harder to crush and the opioid drug harder to remove from the tablet, provide some increased level of abuse-resistance.  However, Signature Therapeutics' prodrug technology involves creating new molecules that provide very high levels of abuse-resistance based upon the design of the molecules themselves.

About Signature Therapeutics

Signature Therapeutics, Inc. is a development-stage biopharmaceutical company located in Palo Alto, California.  The Company focuses on the discovery and development of a portfolio of novel chemical entities for the potential treatment of neurological disorders.

Signature Therapeutics Contact:

Carey DeRafael

email: [email protected]
phone: 650-331-4006
website: http://www.signaturerx.com

SOURCE Signature Therapeutics, Inc.