Release of the conclusions from this pre-clinical investigation coincides with Phosphagenics' two further clinical trials of its TPM opioid pain patch technology for the systemic treatment and management of chronic pain using oxycodone and oxymorphone. The combined US market for these two compounds, currently administered orally, exceeds 70 percent of the $5 billion extended-release opioid market. While oxycodone dominates the market, sales of oxymorphone grew by over 17 percent in 2012 to become the third largest opioid in the category.

Dr Ogru said: "Delivering a powerful opioid like oxycodone topically has never been achieved commercially. It has been widely assumed that opioids can only treat pain by systemic delivery, that is, via the blood stream. Our study confirms more recent findings that opioid receptors are up-regulated in tissue in response to pain, particularly pain associated with inflammation."

Dr Ogru added: "There is no other company in the area of transdermal delivery of pain drugs progressing multiple products with multiple applications. This potential new application of oxycodone to local pain further broadens our pain franchise. We remain committed to our strategy of building a first class pain portfolio comprising a series of compounds with the ability to manage all levels of pain, with various application methods. Underpinning this entire platform is our TPM delivery technology which we are continuously demonstrating enables superior delivery of many compounds."