Pozen shares soar on rich pain med deal

Shares of Pozen shot up 30 percent this morning when the company announced that it has signed a rich deal to develop a pain medication with AstraZeneca that will combine therapies from each company. Pozen gets $40 million up front, $160 million in potential milestone payments and $175 million for hitting sales targets along with royalties. The deal will pair the nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug naproxen with esomeprazole magnesium, the active ingredient in Nexium. The combinational product is intended to prevent the ulcers that sometimes occur as a side effect of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatories. Pozen will be responsible for filings with the FDA and AstraZeneca will seek regulatory approvals in the rest of the world.

- here's the MarketWatch report on Pozen