SINGAPORE (Dec 18): Catalist-listed iX Biopharma has launched a line of nutraceuticals that could help it turn a profit sooner than it could have done through the development of its pain management, erectile dysfunction and opioid treatment drugs. The products could also improve market sentiment toward its stock price, which hit an all-time low of 18.4 cents two months ago and is more than 50% off its IPO price two years ago.
Nutraceuticals — the compound term describing dietary supplements and fortified food products — are a fast-growing market estimated to hit US$285 billion ($384 billion) globally by 2021, growing 7.5% annually from 2016. Meanwhile, iX Biopharma has spent the last few years developing a non-opioid painkiller and patenting a sublingual wafer drug delivery system, WaferiX, which promises optimal delivery of drugs into the bloodstream and therefore a faster effect. The company’s key product, Wafermine, or ketamine in a sublingual wafer formulation, has the potential to be a star, in the face of a major backlash against opioids, particularly in the US.
