Flamel Technologies S.A. announced that it has filed a PCT (Patent Cooperation Treaty) patent application with the European Patent Office regarding its Trigger Lock technology, based on its Micropump platform, for the prevention of opioid misuse and abuse.

Opioid derivatives are increasingly prescribed for the treatment of severe and chronic pain. Nevertheless, many experts feel that patients suffering such pain are under-served due to concerns about the potential misuse and abuse of the medications doctors would otherwise prescribe. Sales of these pain treatments totalled over $6 billion in 2004, a press release said.

It is estimated that a substantial portion of these drugs are taken by drug abusers, who manipulate the currently-marketed long-acting formulations so as to achieve an immediate release of the active ingredients. This practice is common in the US and Europe.

Flamel has already filed four patents describing claims to lessen and avoid the potential abuse and misuse of these much-needed medications. The fifth patent announced describes further claims to avoid the misuse of the active ingredients in the event they are sought to be used other than as prescribed. "The concept is to effectively trap the drug if the drug is improperly extracted by drug abusers from the delivery system", said Dr Gerard Soula, Flamel's founder, president and chief executive officer. "The details of this invention will be communicated to potential partners only under a confidentiality agreement."

This technology would appear to have application across the opioid class, including products such as oxycodone, which is off patent, oxymorphone, hydromorphone, tramadol and others.

Flamel believes this invention responds to the questions being addressed by governmental agencies to avoid the misusage of opioid drugs and is actively promoting the concept with potential partners. The company is pleased to be able to contribute a potential solution to the abuse of these drugs and is hopeful that this solution will allow physicians to address the under-served chronic-pain and severe-pain needs of their patients.

Flamel Technologies, S.A. is a biopharmaceutical company principally engaged in the development of two unique polymer-based delivery technologies for medical applications. Flamel's Medusa technology is designed to deliver therapeutic proteins. Micropump is a controlled release and taste-masking technology for the oral administration of small molecule drugs.