Durect’s pain drug fails to clear key hurdle in PhIIb

Just days after signing a $212.5 million U.S. licensing deal with Hospira, Durect (DRRX) reports that its pain drug Posidur--a long-acting version of the anesthetic bupivacaine--equaled an injectable therapy in a Phase IIb trial but failed to demonstrate an ability to reduce patients' use of rescue opioids. Durect signed up 115 women to test Posidur's ability to manage pain following hysterectomies. The mixed results on its two primary endpoints include the observation that all the treatment...