Trevena, a King of Prussia-based biopharmaceutical company, has started two late-stage clinical trials on its experimental pain medicine, oliceirdine, writes John George for the Philadelphia Business Journal.

Trevena will test oliceirdine in patients suffering from moderate to severe pain following a bunionectomy to remove a bunion their toe, or from an abdominoplasty which removes excess flesh from the abdomen.

Maxine Gowen, Trevena CEO, said that phase-III clinical trials for the company’s new drug candidate are to support approval of the pain medicine and to “confirm the potential differentiation of oliceridine from conventional opioids.”

Oliceridine is designed to help with post-surgery pain by activating signaling pathways in the body associated with analgesia, while avoiding pathways that can promote respiratory depression and gastrointestinal dysfunction and limit analgesia.

The new drug candidate was already awarded the breakthrough therapy designation by the Food and Drug Administration.

Results from the trial are expected in the first quarter of the next year, and if they go well, Trevena plans to file a new drug application for oliceridine with the FDA in the following quarter.

Read more about clinical trials in the Philadelphia Business Journal by clicking here.

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