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Pacira Announces FDA Approval of Supplemental New Drug Application for EXPAREL® (bupivacaine liposome injectable suspension) in Pediatric Patients
-- EXPAREL is the first and only FDA-approved long-acting local analgesic for children aged six and over –-- Conference call tomorrow at 8:30 a.m. ET --
About this update from Pacira Biosciences, Inc.
[{"type":"text","content":"-- EXPAREL is the first and only FDA-approved long-acting local analgesic for children aged six and over –-- Conference call tomorrow at 8:30 a.m. ET -- PARSIPPANY, N.J., March 22, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Pacira BioSciences, Inc. (Nasdaq: PCRX), the industry leader in its commitment to non-opioid pain management and regenerative health solutions, today announced the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved the submission of its supplemental new drug application (sNDA) seeking expansion of the EXPAREL label to include use in patients 6 years of age and older for single-dose infiltration to produce postsurgical local analgesia. With this approval, EXPAREL is the first and only FDA approved long-acting local analgesic for the pediatric population as young as age six. “The current standard of care for managing moderate-to-severe pain in children is opioids, which often come with unwanted severe and possibly life-threatening side effects in this vulnerable patient population,” said Dave Stack, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer at Pacira. “In line with our corporate mission to provide an opioid alternative to as many patients as possible, we are grateful for the opportunity to give clinicians and patients a new, safe and effective option for achieving long-lasting non-opioid pain control in children without the need for an indwelling catheter and pump.” Since initial approval in 2011, more than 8 million patients have been treated with EXPAREL. With approximately one million pediatric procedures per year where opioids, catheters and pain pumps are the mainstay of postsurgical pain control, there is an urgent unmet need for opioid alternatives. “There has been a significant gap in our pain control armamentarium as it relates to the ability to safely and effectively provide long-lasting non-opioid pain control for the pediatric surgical population,” said Christopher Tirotta, MD, Chief of Anesthesiology at Nicklaus Children's Hospital and an investigator in the pivotal PLAY study. “Traditional local anesthetics have not provided a duration of pain control that matches the time course of the most significant postsurgical pain, which has necessitated the reliance on opioids in an attempt to manage pain. With the addition of EXPAREL as an FDA-approved non-opioid option to provide prolonged pain control we are better equipped...