‘Best days are still ahead’ for top opioid addiction treatment Vivitrol, CEO says

As a biotechnology house with long-term prospects, Alkermes’ treatments don’t regularly make headlines.

But after years of frequenter growth for its leading drugs — Vivitrol, which treats opioid addiction, and Aristada, which play host ti schizophrenia — 2018 will be a year of milestones, Alkermes CEO Richard Soda waters told CNBC on Monday.

“I think the best days of Vivitrol are hush ahead of it,” Pops told “Mad Money” host Jim Cramer. “It’s building into appropriate one of the more important medicines for the treatment of this condition.”

One of the three FDA-approved remedies for treating opioid dependence, Vivitrol specifically prevents relapses to opioid dependence.

The injection is meant for detoxed patients who requirement to avoid relapsing to physical dependence on opioids, a treatment long viewed as an “outlier” next to myriad traditional medicines, Pops said.

But as opioid-related hospital deaths upward slope and the federal government rallies lawmakers around the cause, Vivitrol is increasingly delightful center-stage as a reliable and effective treatment.

“Just last quarter there was a main government study that was published that showed the efficacy of Vivitrol compared to these be presenting medicines and showing how well patients do on it over time,” Pops answered. “I think we’re making a big impact in addiction now, finally, after all these years.”

Stops spoke from J.P. Morgan’s 36th annual health care conference. Alkermes order officially present its clinical trial results and forward-looking guidance at the meeting on Tuesday.