J&J Approved for Needle-free Painkiller System

Johnson & Johnson of New Brunswick, NJ, announced US regulators have approved its Lonsys device which can deliver controlled amounts of painkiller to patients through the skin by the touch of a button.
    The J&J device uses the same opioid painkiller, a compound called fentanyl, that is used in the company’s Duragesic skin patch that recently lost patent protection and is now facing generic competition.
    But unlike Duragesic, the new Lonsys system uses a weak electric current to deliver pre-programmed amounts of fentanyl across an adhesive strip on the skin and into the bloodstream.
    JP Morgan analyst Michael Weinstein forecast sales of $40 million in the second half of this year for the needle-free pain drug delivery system, rising to $275 million in 2009.
    J&J’s Alza unit received conditional approval for Lonsys in July 2004, but the FDA said it would need additional data before granting outright approval. The company submitted the requested data last November.
    “This is the only needle-free, patient-administered analgesic system,” company spokesman Paul Minehart said.
    Minehart said the device has built-in safeguards to ensure patients do not overmedicate themselves.