Shares in the specialty pharma group Indivior PLC (LON:INDV) rose 16% in early trade after it said it had received positive initial results from a phase III study of its treatment for opioid use disorder.
In layman’s terms that’s addiction to drugs such heroin, morphine and codeine.
Indivior, a spin out from the consumer brands giant Reckitt Benckiser, has developed a once-a-month injection – the snappily named RBP-6000 buprenorphine.
In combination with counselling and psychosocial support it is proving effective in treating patients.
It works by decreasing the cravings for drugs as well as addressing the withdrawal symptoms.
Having received fast-track status from the US Food & Drug Administration it hopes to get the new treatment out to market by the end of next year.
First the data has to be fully analysed by the scientists and signed off by the FDA.
Indivior’s chief scientific officer, Christian Heidbreder, said: "With these compelling phase III data in hand, we are on track to complete the data analysis of this trial as well as the open-label long-term assessment of the safety and tolerability of RBP-6000 by the first quarter of next year in line with previous guidance."
At 8.40am the stock was up 49p at 354p, valuing the business at £2.4bn.