Amid need for new pain options, FDA panel rebuffs Nektar’s ‘safer’ opioid

Regulators and physicians are urgently seeking novel pain therapeutics to combat the opioid crisis without compromising treatment availability for chronic pain patients, but according to an FDA panel, Nektar’s oxycodegol shouldn’t make the cut based on available data.

In a meeting of FDA’s Analgesic Drug Products and Drug Safety and Risk Management advisory committees, the joint panel voted unanimously (0-27) against recommending oxycodegol (NKTR-181) to either treat chronic lower back pain or for general extended-release/long-acting opioid analgesic chronic pain indications. ...