Developing New Therapies Across Multiple Regulatory Landscapes

Tris Pharmaceutical’s founder and CEO Ketan Mehta spoke with Pharmaceutical Executive about the company’s history and how it’s adapted over the decades. While the company initially focused on oral technology, it eventually broadened its scope and is working in areas such as pain management and addiction.

Mehta also discussed the ways that he ensures his company maximizes a drug’s impact and he experiences with a variety of regulatory environments.

Pharmaceutical Executive: What has been your experience developing new therapies across multiple regulatory environments?
Ketan Mehta: As you evolve, you see opportunities. For example, our pain molecule, it was serendipity that we stumbled upon it. Once we got into the science and the biology of pain, we realized that this drug has an opportunity and is a new molecule.

This is not based on our in-house technology platform, but it is a first-in-class and uses a very unique mechanism. This pain drug has the potential to transform how pain is treated.

We think this will replace opioids because has efficacy is comparable, if not better, than Class 2 opioids. The addiction profile is very low and we think it could be a Schedule Class 5 drug. You could have no dependency or very minimal dependence.