Shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc. VRTX, -0.57% gained 1.4% in premarket trading on Thursday after the company announced promising data for an acute-pain treatment that is an alternative to opioids. Vertex said its NaV1.8 inhibitor was well-tolerated and efficacious in two proof-of-concept Phase 2 clinical trials when given to participants who had undergone abdominoplasty surgery or bunionectomy surgeries. “We are working with urgency to advance the program into Phase 3 with the goal of bringing forward the first novel pain treatment in decades to address the unmet needs of patients suffering from acute pain,” Dr. Carmen Bozic, Vertex’s chief medical officer, said in a news release. The company plans to begin “pivotal development” of the drug in the second half of this year. Vertex’s stock is up 16.8% so far this year, while the broader S&P 500 SPX, -0.63% is down 3.4%.
