The growing fentanyl crowd

Cephalon Corp. has done a nice job of turning Actiq oral transmucosal fentanyl for breakthrough cancer pain into a moneymaker. When CEPH acquired Anesta Corp. in 2000, Actiq sales were $15 million a year. This year, CEPH expects to post Actiq sales of $325-$375 million. And late last year, CEPH acquired a complementary product with improved delivery characteristics, OraVescent transmucosal fentanyl, as part of its purchase of Cima Labs Inc.

But competition could come from Rapinyl fentanyl, to which Endo Pharmaceuticals Inc. licensed North American rights last week from Orexa AB. Orexa claims that Rapinyl is absorbed not only rapidly, but also more completely than either CEPH's marketed Actiq lozenge or its Phase III OraVescent fentanyl...