California-based healthcare company Viatris has inked a billion-dollar deal to acquire Pacira BioSciences and its non-opioid pain management therapies – allowing the company to enter a market attracting growing attention amid the ongoing effects from the opioid crisis in the US.
Through this deal, Viatris will pay $36.50 in cash per share for Pacira’s remaining stock, bringing the buyout’s total value to $1.65bn. By taking Pacira under its wing, the healthcare giant will add two pain management drugs to its portfolio of generic and innovator medicines.
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The first of the drugs at the core of this deal is Exparel (bupivacaine liposome injectable suspension), which is approved in the US and Europe for pain management after surgery. The drug offers an extended-release form of local anaesthetic bupivacaine, which is designed to block the activity of sodium channels involved in the transmission of pain impulses. It is administered via an injection around the edges of a surgical wound, or close to the nerve that supplies an operation site.
The second is Zilretta, which is currently the only pain management therapy specifically approved for knee osteoarthritis in the US. Zilretta acts by reducing joint inflammation linked to pain through its mechanism as an extended-release corticosteroid.
If the transaction goes through as planned, Viatris will secure the rights to drugs on an upward revenue trajectory, with Exparel and Zilretta posting year-on-year growth of 3% and 4%, respectively, between Q2 2025 and Q2 2026. Currently, analysts at GlobalData, parent company of Pharmaceutical Technology, forecast that Exparel will approach blockbuster status in 2032, while Zilretta’s sales will peak at just over $150m in 2031.
Viatris makes its Pacira takeover bid as several biotech and pharma companies take a growing interest in debuting non-opioid-based pain management medicines. This comes as some experts sound the alarm around dependency concerns surrounding long-term use of opioid-based therapies, with the US previously declaring the opioid epidemic a “national emergency” back in 2017.
With Viatris set to enter the burgeoning non-opioid pain management market, it will have to compete with other players in the space such as Vertex Pharmaceuticals, which recently commercialised its selective sodium channel blocker, Journavx (suzetrigine), in moderate-to-severe acute pain – including post-operative.
According to a recent report from GlobalData, 98% of pain medications currently on the market are generics, and neuropathic pain is the largest segment within the pain sector. However, pain is expected to be the largest growth driver within the disease area in the near future.
