Pacira Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Announces FDA Extension of EXPAREL™ PDUFA Target Date by Three Months

PARSIPPANY, N.J., June 14, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Pacira Pharmaceuticals, Inc., (Nasdaq: PCRX), an emerging specialty pharmaceutical company, today announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has extended the Prescription Drug User Fee Act (PDUFA) goal date for its review of the New Drug Application (NDA) for EXPAREL™ (Bupivacaine Extended-Release Liposome Injection) by three months. The new PDUFA goal date is October 28, 2011.

The FDA requested additional information from Pacira, which the company has submitted. The FDA determined that this information constituted a major amendment. The agency has the option to extend the PDUFA goal date when a sponsor submits a major amendment to an NDA within three months of the PDUFA goal date to provide the FDA time to complete the review.

About Pacira

Pacira Pharmaceuticals, Inc. is an emerging specialty pharmaceutical company focused on the development, manufacture and commercialization of novel pharmaceutical products, based on its proprietary DepoFoam drug delivery technology, for use in hospitals and ambulatory surgery centers. In December 2010, Pacira announced that its New Drug Application (NDA) for EXPAREL, the company's most advanced investigational product candidate, had been accepted for filing by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The FDA has assigned a Prescription Drug User Fee Act (PDUFA) goal date of October 28, 2011 for the review of the EXPAREL NDA. EXPAREL is a bupivacaine-based product and has completed extensive Phase 3 clinical development for postoperative analgesia by infiltration. EXPAREL consists of bupivacaine encapsulated in DepoFoam, which is designed to address the limitations of widely used medications by enhancing their dosing and/or administration profile. Additional information about Pacira is available at www.pacira.com.

About EXPAREL™

EXPAREL is Pacira's proprietary drug candidate consisting of bupivacaine encapsulated in DepoFoam®, both of which are currently used separately in FDA-approved products. Bupivacaine is a well-characterized anesthetic/analgesic that has an established safety profile with more than 20 years of use in the United States. Market data indicate that there is an unmet medical need for a longer-acting anesthetic/analgesic for postsurgical pain management. Several Phase 2 and Phase 3 clinical trials have been completed for EXPAREL and suggest statistically significant reduction of pain in soft tissue and orthopedic surgery in different surgical models. Clinical data from Phase 3 trial 316 suggest that EXPAREL provides analgesia for up to 72 hours post-surgery, the primary endpoint for the trial. The safety of EXPAREL was evaluated in 10 randomized, double-blind, local administration into the surgical wound clinical studies involving 823 patients; the most common adverse events following EXPAREL administration were nausea, constipation, and vomiting.  

Forward Looking Statements

Any statements in this press release about our future expectations, plans and prospects, including statements about EXPAREL's potential, and other statements containing the words "believes," "anticipates," "plans," "expects," and similar expressions, constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of The Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Actual results may differ materially from those indicated by such forward-looking statements as a result of various important factors, including risks relating to: the timing of, and our ability to obtain regulatory approval of EXPAREL; the timing of our anticipated commercial launch of EXPAREL; the rate and degree of market acceptance of EXPAREL; the size and growth of the potential markets for EXPAREL and our ability to serve those markets; our commercialization and marketing capabilities; and other factors discussed in the "Risk Factors" section of our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2010, and in other filings that we periodically make with the SEC. In addition, the forward-looking statements included in this press release represent our views as of the date of this press release. We anticipate that subsequent events and developments will cause our views to change. However, while we may elect to update these forward-looking statements at some point in the future, we specifically disclaim any obligation to do so. These forward-looking statements should not be relied upon as representing our views as of any date subsequent to the date of this press release.

Contacts:

James S. Scibetta
Chief Financial Officer
Pacira Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
(973) 254-3570

Jennifer Beugelmans
Vice President, Investor Relations
Pure Communications, Inc.
(646) 596-7473

Dan Budwick
Vice President, Media Relations
Pure Communications, Inc.
(973) 271-6085

SOURCE Pacira Pharmaceuticals, Inc.