04/20/2012 -ATIN- Titan Pharmaceuticals (OBB: TTNP) a tiny, highly speculative Bulletin Board (penny) stock drug developer has announced what it says are positive results from Phase 3 clinical trials for its brand named Probuphine, which is a buprenorphine implant designed for very long term treatment of opioid dependence. Just two weeks ago, Titan announced its intention to raise $5.5M in a new stock offering.
England’s Reckitt Benckiser, which early on sponsored the pioneering research of Dr. Ed Johnson into buprenorphine, is the most successful of a growing, but still tiny relative to the huge size of drug industry, group of drug developers that are seeking to provide pharmacological treatments for a disease that until very recently had depended almost entirely on behavioral therapeutic interventions. Reckitt’s buprenorphine-based Suboxone, which has been slated to go generic, is the most successful addiction drug in history, apart from methadone, with sales last year in excess of $350M.
Alkermes is another member of this growing drug company group, but has had very limited success with 
its enormously expensive – $7,000.00 for a monthly injection – and marginally effective VIVITROL despite spending huge sums, well over $300M, marketing the drug. According to research reports, there are at least 36 addiction treatment compounds in various stages of testing by commercial drug developers worldwide, with government sponsored entities conducting many additional investigations.
