InSitu Biologics touted preclinical data for its non-opiate, hydrogel-based painkiller, AnestaGel, for use in peri-operative regional pain management. The St. Paul, Minn.-based company designs therapies using its Matrix biohydrogel material.

Independent tests compared operative site injections of AnestaGel and Pacira Pharmaceutical’s (NSDQ:PCRX) Exparel. According to InSitu, the data showed that AnestaGel lasted longer and provided a greater analgesic effect than Exparel. Another test showed that bupivacaine, the painkiller used in both AnestaGel and Exparel, was released from AnestaGel and stayed in the blood longer than Exparel and bupivacaine injections.

“As we had hypothesized going in to these studies, we expected that AnestaGel would perform very well when compared to the non-opiate products available today,” pre-clinical study director Dr. Jake Hutchins said in prepared remarks.

“Early on we believed that AnestaGel could be tuned to act as a short-term reservoir, essentially a non-pulsatile organ, and that is what we have now verified and validated,” InSitu CEO James Segermark added. “We look forward to the next steps that will bring this predictable, very long-acting, non-opiate product to patients that face the prospect of post-surgical pain.”

AnestaGel’s biohydrogel matrix is tunable, biocompatible and pH neutral, according to InSitu, which allows it to provide site-specific, non-migratory placement, a flexible and high dose drug-load reservoir capacity and a tunable pharmacological effect.