DOW JONES NEWSWIRES
Alkermes Inc. (ALKS) said the Food and Drug Administration has
approved its addiction drug Vivitrol to prevent opioid addicts from
relapsing.
Shares in the company were up 4% at $16.30 in after-hours
trading. Through the close, the stock has risen 67% so far this
year.
The treatment, currently approved to battle alcoholism, had been
recommended for approval in opioid addiction last month by an FDA
panel, presaging the full administration OK.
Opioids are powerful class of painkillers that encompass such
drugs as heroin, morphine and methadone.
In its most recent, quarterly results, Alkermes's loss widened
as it waited for the wider use of Vivitrol to be approved, as well
the approval of Bydureon, a diabetes drug it developed with Eli
Lilly & Co. (LLY) and Amylin Pharmaceuticals Inc. (AMLN).
-By Joan E. Solsman, Dow Jones Newswires; 212-416-2291;
joan.solsman@dowjones.com