Cipher Pharmaceuticals, based in Mississauga, has had its drug CIP-TRAMADOL ER, a pain-killer, accepted for review by Health Canada. The company expects the review to be completed by early 2011. The product has already received tentative FDA approval in the United States. It is an extended release version of tramadol, which already has a $50 million market in Canada (up 30 per cent in one year).
Cipher President and CEO Larry Andrews says it is one of
three new drug products the company has in late-stage development. The company's lead compound, a prescription medication for managing cholesterol, is already marketed in the United States under the trade name
Lipofen. The third new product, the acne medication isotretinoin, is in Phase 3 trials in the US.
The company went public in 2004 and employs 14 people today, and expects to grow revenue significantly as its products go to market. Given the typically glacial pace of the pharmaceutical research industry, Andrews says the current situation is a relief to be in. "It's nice to see some light at the end of the tunnel," he says. Encouragingly, in a business where financial health is often measured by the ability to generate new capital, the company has a low burn rate. With cash reserves of $9 million, the company spent only $1 million in 2009. Andrews says they are currently able to fund their work through their own revenues.
Author: Edward Keenan
Source: Larry Andrews, President and CEO, Cipher Pharmaceuticals
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