Acura Pharmaceuticals and MainPointe Pharmaceuticals Announce Deal for Nexafed Products

Acura Pharmaceuticals, Inc. and MainPointe Pharmaceuticals, LLC announced that they have entered into a License Agreement (the “Agreement”) to have MainPointe exclusively market NEXAFED and NEXAFED Sinus in the US and Canada.

The pseudoephedrine-containing NEXAFED brand products utilize Acura’s IMPEDE® Technology which disrupts the extraction and conversion of the pseudoephedrine into the illicit drug, methamphetamine.  MainPointe will assume all manufacturing and commercialization activities from Acura. 

“MainPointe is an emerging OTC pharmaceutical company that brings added leverage to our NEXAFED business,” commented Bob Jones, Acura’s President and CEO.  “With additional products in distribution and new customer contacts, MainPointe is well positioned to expand on the US pharmacy distribution achieved by Acura over the past several years.”

“Conversion of pseudoephedrine products into methamphetamine remains an acute problem in many communities,” said John Schutte, MainPointe’s Chairman and CEO.  “The NEXAFED products have proven to be a success in curbing this costly problem and we look forward to driving this business forward.”

The Agreement provided for an upfront cash payment of $2.5 million to Acura. Acura is eligible to receive a royalty 7.5% based on commercial sales by MainPointe.  

About Acura Pharmaceuticals
Acura Pharmaceuticals is a specialty pharmaceutical company engaged in the research, development and commercialization of product candidates intended to address medication abuse and misuse, utilizing its proprietary LIMITX™, AVERSION® and IMPEDE® Technologies. LIMITX contains ingredients that are intended to reduce or limit the rate or extent of opioid release when multiple tablets are ingested. AVERSION contains polymers that cause the drug to gel when dissolved; it also contains compounds that irritate the nasal passages if the product is snorted.  IMPEDE is designed to disrupt the processing of pseudoephedrine from tablets into methamphetamine.

OXAYDO® (oxycodone HCl immediate-release tablets) which incorporates the AVERSION Technology, is FDA approved and marketed in the U.S. by our partner Egalet Corporation. 

NEXAFED® and NEXAFED® Sinus, which are pseudoephedrine containing products, utilize the IMPEDE Technology.

Contact:
for Acura Investor Relations
investors@acurapharm.com
847-705-7709