Overview

Phoenix PharmaLabs, Inc. (PPL) is a privately held preclinical drug discovery company focusing on the development and commercialization of new non-addictive treatments for pain and new therapies for the treatment of opiate addiction. PPL was founded in 2002 with the mission of bringing its new class of opioid pain therapies and addiction treatment to market. PPL has designed a novel family of ligands with high binding affinity at all three opiate receptors: mu, kappa and delta. These unique ligands, derived from opioid backbones using proprietary technology, have more balanced receptor activity than morphine and other opioids, with partial agonist / antagonist activity at mu, relatively higher, but not full, kappa agonist activity, and moderate delta activity. This profile results in first-ever opiate analgesics that appear to be non-addicting and free of all significant dangerous side effects. Studies of the drugs have been conducted by prominent scientists at leading institutions including Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU), the University of Michigan, SRI International and Torrey Pines Institute for Molecular Studies. Study results in rodents and monkeys performed by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and SRI International Laboratories demonstrated the following: • Robust analgesic potency (8x - 60x stronger than morphine) • No dangerous narcotic effects • No signs of respiratory depression - at over 150x dosage • No death from overdose - even at 350x dosage • No physical dependence in naive rodents • Little or no abuse potential in monkeys • No dysphoria in monkeys • No inhibition of GI transport in rodents - even at 350x dosage • No significant diuresis in rodents • Does not precipitate withdrawal in dependent monkeys Since the drugs do not precipitate withdrawal, they offer very promising use for addiction therapy as a preferred substitute for methadone and buprenorphine.