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Medexus Pharmaceuticals says price negotiations for its joint-disease drug in Canada complete

Last updated: 10:15 08 Apr 2020 EDT, First published: 09:42 08 Apr 2020 EDT

Medexus Pharmaceuticals Inc - Medexus Pharmaceuticals says price negotiations for joint drug in Canada complete
The company says its Triamcinolone Hexacetonide Injectable Suspension 20mg/mL (TH) lasts twice as long as competitive products

Medexus Pharmaceuticals Inc (CVE:MDP) (OTCQB:PDDPF) announced Wednesday that price negotiations for Triamcinolone Hexacetonide Injectable Suspension 20mg/mL (TH) in Canada are complete.

The specialty pharmaceutical company said the public reimbursement — which should help Medexus expand sales and market access — is expected to roll out in the respective provinces over the coming months.

Triamcinolone Hexacetonide is the longest acting corticosteroid for intra-articular injection, often lasting twice as long as competitive products, Medexus said.

READ: Medexus Pharmaceuticals posts fiscal 3Q revenue of C$16.2M on strong demand for its products

Health Canada previously approved TH in December 2017 for intra-articular, intrasynovial, or periarticular use in adults and adolescents for the symptomatic treatment of subacute and chronic inflammatory joint diseases including rheumatoid arthritis, juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA), osteoarthritis, post-traumatic arthritis, synovitis, tendinitis, bursitis and epicondylitis.

As previously reported, there has been a long-standing drug shortage of Triamcinolone Hexacetonide in Canada. 

In October 2018, with the support of the Canadian Rheumatology Association (CRA), Medexus launched its own TH product to help fill a care gap by bringing TH back to the market. 

Since that time, the company has provided TH to children with JIA through the Special Access Program of Health Canada, offering these children a reliable source for this product, which is a key component for the management of their disease. 

Medexus said its commercial launch of TH also allows it to promote the TH product for use in adults for indications such as osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis and other forms of joint disease.

Public reimbursement

“Public reimbursement marks an important milestone for the company, as it dramatically increases the sales potential and market access to our TH product,” said CEO Ken d’Entremont. 

“Moreover, children and adult patients suffering from debilitating forms of joint disease now have a reliable source and greater access to TH. Importantly, TH transforms the treatment of many severe joint diseases as it provides a longer duration of action, with fewer injections, compared to other corticosteroid injections and intra-articular steroids. By reducing the number of injections, we believe TH offers a safer and more cost-effective solution for the healthcare system, by reducing the number of hospital visits and need to put pediatric patients under general anesthetic for these injections.” 

d’Entremont also noted that public reimbursement for TH is “particularly important in the current COVID-19 healthcare environment” where patient visits to hospitals should be reduced and focused on urgent patient needs. 

“We agree with the Canadian Rheumatology Association (CRA) in their assessment that TH should be considered the standard of care, and not only for younger patients with JIA, but for all appropriate adult patients with subacute and chronic inflammatory joint disease,” he said. 

“Overall, we are quite encouraged by the response to TH from the Canadian medical community and believe TH represents an important market opportunity for Medexus going forward.”

The company’s stock recently traded 15% higher to $2.75 a share in Toronto.

Contact the author: patrick@proactiveinvestors.com

Follow him on Twitter @PatrickMGraham

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