BioDelivery Sciences Announces Positive Results of Pivotal Pharmacokinetic Study Comparing BEMA Buprenorphine/Naloxone (BNX) to Suboxone

BioDelivery Sciences International

announced a positive outcome of the Company's pivotal pharmacokinetic study for BEMA Buprenorphine/Naloxone (BNX), which is being developed for the potential treatment of opioid dependence and utilizes the patented BioErodible MucoAdhesive (BEMA) technology to deliver buprenorphine combined with the opioid antagonist naloxone.  Based on the positive outcome of this study, BDSI continues to anticipate that it will be in a position to submit a New Drug Application (NDA) to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for BNX during the second quarter of 2013. The study, BNX-103, was designed to compare the relative bioavailability of buprenorphine and naloxone between BNX and the reference product, Suboxone, which is currently approved for the maintenance treatment of opioid dependence.  Based on the FDA agreed upon 505(b)(2) pharmacokinetic regulatory pathway for the BNX program, the goals of the study were to demonstrate that two key pharmacokinetic parameters, maximum drug plasma concentration (Cmax) and total drug exposure (area under the curve or AUC), for buprenorphine were comparable to Suboxone, and that the same parameters for naloxone were similar or less than Suboxone.