Flexion Therapeutics Inc. shares surged 18% in afternoon trade Friday on news that the company’s non-opioid injection for osteoarthritis knee pain has been approved by the Food and Drug Administration. The injection, Zilretta, provides pain relief for 12 weeks. The company expects it will be available in the U.S. by the end of the month, with a full commercial launch in mid-November, at a price of $570 a dose (the figure refers to the injection’s wholesale acquisition cost, which is the price a drugmaker offers middleman wholesalers). Osteoarthritis, the most common form of arthritis, is a painful joint disease. Zilretta uses microscopic spherical particles to deliver a combination of a common, short-acting corticosteroid with a poly lactic-co-glycolic acid, the company said. Though there is an urgent need for new non-opioid pain medications, startlingly little progress has been made, MarketWatch reported this summer. Zilretta “may avoid the disruptive blood glucose spikes that can be seen with corticosteroid use in patients coping with both knee OA and type 2 diabetes,” said Dr. Steven Russell, assistant professor of medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital Diabetes Research Center. Flexion shares have surged 40% over the last three months, compared with a nearly 6% rise in the S&P 500 .
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