FAIRFAX, Va.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Vizuri Health Sciences LLC, a pharmaceutical and over-the-counter (OTC) product development company, today announced that the company has further strengthened its consumer healthcare operational and transactional experience by adding Ms. Elise Donahue to its board of directors.
William Moore, PhD, Vizuri’s Chief Executive Officer stated, “We are delighted to have Elise join the Vizuri Board. Her extensive consumer packaged goods experience, evidenced by her significant accomplishments, will serve Vizuri well as the company grows its consumer healthcare business following the launch of its OTC topical analgesic product PainBloc24®. The commercial launch of PainBloc24® and the recent initiation of a Phase 2 osteoarthritis knee pain study for Vizuri’s prescription-strength capsaicin product underscore our commitment to develop safe, effective, and convenient non-opiate products for the treatment of chronic pain. We believe that our topical capsaicin product franchise will provide osteoarthritis sufferers a spectrum of safe and effective dose-strength options for the management of nerve pain.”
Elise Donahue added, “I am excited to be joining Vizuri’s board of directors as PainBloc24® retail distribution and sales ramp up. I look forward to working with other members of the board to help Vizuri’s consumer healthcare business attain profitability.”
Ms. Donahue has led the growth of several consumer product companies (including South Beach Diet, Prestige Brands International, Airborne Health, and Slim Fast/Thomson Medical, the latter which developed and marketed the Capzasin™ topical analgesic line). Ms. Donahue, also served as a Management Affiliate at the private equity fund, MidOcean Partners, and has served on the board of directors of several U.S. and Europe consumer healthcare companies.
About Osteoarthritis (OA)
OA is the most common form of arthritis. It most frequently occurs in the knees, hips, and hands. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, in the years 2013-2015, an estimated 54.4 million (22.7%) adults had doctor-diagnosed arthritis with higher age-adjusted prevalence in women (23.5%) than in men (18.1%). The prevalence of arthritis is expected to increase in the aging U.S. population and by the year 2040, an estimated 78.4 million (25.9%) adults will have doctor-diagnosed arthritis and two-thirds of those will be women. Also by 2040, an estimated 34.6 million adults (11.4% of all U.S. adults) will report arthritis-attributable activity limitations. Inactivity due to arthritis is associated with conditions such as cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and obesity.
Vizuri’s Patented Products for the Management of Nociceptive Nerve Pain
Affected osteoarthritic joints frequently present with multiple structural alterations to bone and synovial tissue. Synovitis and increased bone marrow lesions have been associated with increased OA pain. Synovium and bone are densely innervated by nociceptive nerve fibers, which become increasingly sensitized (e.g., elicit pain signals in response to normal movements) during the progression of OA disease.
Capsaicin, the naturally occurring substance in chili peppers that makes them taste spicy hot, exerts an initial pain-dulling sensation through its activation of heat-sensing, transient receptor potential vanilloid 1 ion channels on nociceptive sensory neurons. Prolonged stimulation of these neurons with capsaicin results in sensory neuron desensitization.
Vizuri’s first commercial product, PainBloc24® (www.painbloc24.com), contains the highest concentration of capsaicin, 0.25%, safely permitted in a topical analgesic OTC product by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) according to its Tentative Final Monograph (TFM), “External Analgesic Drug Products for Over-the-Counter Human Use”. Vizuri has demonstrated in controlled clinical studies that once- or twice-daily topical application of PainBloc24® for four to seven days can provide a 24-hour reduction in the pain associated with OA of the knee. PainBloc24® is currently available at select drug and grocery retail stores including CVS, Rite Aid, Publix, Kroger, Giant Eagle, and Meijer among others.
The CGS-200 formulations that are being evaluated in VZU00025 contain four or twenty times greater concentrations of capsaicin than does PainBloc24®. CGS-200, like PainBloc24®, utilizes patented NeuroMax® technology, which is thought to enhance activity by allowing the tolerable topical administration of high-concentration capsaicin formulations. Vizuri believes that PainBloc24® and CGS-200 products hold significant promise as safer, non-addictive alternatives to opioids, steroids, and NSAIDs for the management of nerve pain in joints in addition to the knee, thereby positioning them more broadly as potential treatments for musculoskeletal pain. Like PainBloc24®, the CGS-200 high-strength topical capsaicin formulations can be self-administered without a need for prior treatment of the affected area with cooling or a with a topical or injected analgesic.
About Vizuri Health Sciences LLC (www.vizuriusa.com)
Privately-owned Vizuri develops and markets new innovative pharmaceutical and OTC products. The products are based on proprietary formulations that use patented technologies to enhance the efficacy and safety of natural and pharmaceutical ingredients that have proven health benefits. Vizuri wholly owns the patented CGS-200 and PainBloc24® products.
