June 26, 2017
By Alex Keown, BioSpace.com Breaking News Staff
SAN DIEGO – Year after year innovative advancements are being made in the life sciences industry, particularly as the precision medicine movement continues to flourish. This year at BIO International, companies from around the world lined up to show off their latest developments.
In the United States, more than one-third of adults are considered obese, according to the National Institutes of Health. Diet and exercise are common answers to excess weight, but sometimes that isn’t enough. Medical assistance is sometimes the solution for overweight adults. One of those treatments is Contrave, Orexigen ’s anti-obesity drug, which was for use in extremely overweight individuals since 2014. According to the FDA, Contrave is a combination of two FDA-approved drugs, naltrexone and bupropion, in an extended-release formulation. Naltrexone is approved to treat alcohol and opioid dependence. Bupropion is approved to treat depression and seasonal affective disorder and as an aid to smoking cessation treatment.
One of the things that sets Contrave apart from other weight loss drugs is its dual ability to reduce hunger and curb cravings. A craving is different than hunger. It’s the cravings that make it so hard to lose weight for many people. It’s that psychological difference that Orexigen is trying to address with physicians. It’s a way to change the conversation between doctor and patients, which could result in a new healthy dynamic.
Contrave in and of itself isn’t a new innovation, but how the company is approaching its North American marketing strategy is new. The strategy comes on the heels of the company regaining North American rights to Contrave from Takeda . Thomas Cannell, Orexigen’s chief operating officer and president of global commercial products, said the company is focusing on telemedicine to help commercialize the weight loss drug across the continent.
In an exclusive interview with BioSpace, Cannell said patients can use a network of physicians in a video or telephone call to discuss weight loss options and see if Contrave is a good fit. Cannell said patients will fill out a questionnaire prior to the call about their weight and other issues.
“In the case of weight loss, a lot of people just don’t want to go see their own doctor. They already know they are overweight and don’t want to go through the embarrassment of that type of visit. Being able to do it from home can make the situation much more comfortable,” Cannell said.
If a patient is approved, a 30-day supply of Contrave will cost about $90 out-of-pocket.
“Even if a person moves their weight a few percentage points down, that will do such wonders for their overall health,” Cannell said.Another innovative product that was showcased at BIO was DermTech’s non-invasive adhesive skin biopsy kit. DermTech Chief Medical Officer Burkhard Jansen said the product reduces 90 percent of unnecessary surgical biopsies. The patch looks similar to a piece of scotch tape. The film is then placed onto a mole or dermatological area of concern and peeled off—taking with it skin cells. Jansen said all the necessary clinical data is on the film and can then be sent to a lab to determine if it is cancerous. The data can be extracted from the cells on the adhesive strip up to a week after it was used, Jansen said.
“It is put in the envelope and sent off. It’s simple and there was no unnecessary cutting with a scalpel,” Jansen said on the convention floor.
Company data shows that its pigmented lesion assays demonstrated a mean biopsy sensitivity of 98.6 percent.
Such a non-invasive product is sure to please many potential patients, particularly as skin cancer is the most common form of cancer in the United States. According to the American Academy of Dermatology, about 9,500 people in the U.S. are diagnosed with skin cancer daily. The DermTech kit has a shelf life of about three years, Jansen said.
