After finishing 2024 with a 15.25% decline, the BioWorld Drug Developers Index rebounded 6.93% in January, only to fall back to a modest 1.06% gain by the end of February. The Nasdaq Biotechnology Index and the Dow Jones Industrial Average followed a similar pattern, each rising about 5% by the end of January, before closing February at 3.13% and -2.48%, respectively.

Pacira Cryotech Inc. reported the filing of a patent for a hand-held cryogenic treatment system with a probe configured to apply a cryogenic therapy to one or more nerves, such as the nerves of the stellate ganglion and autonomic tissue peripheral to the stellate ganglion.

Pacira Biosciences Inc. will add to its core non-opioid-based therapies business by buying Flexion Therapeutics Inc. for $427 million. That brings into the company’s fold Zilretta (triamcinolone acetonide extended-release injectable suspension) for treating osteoarthritis knee pain, an injectable non-opioid that’s already FDA approved in addition to being in a phase II study for treating shoulder osteoarthritis.

Stock market exuberance, particularly in favor of an innovative industry working to pull the world out of the deadly COVID-19 pandemic, led to drug developers shares surging 30% in 2020. But if one thing is certain, it is this: Markets usually pull back and that is partially why BioWorld’s Drug Developers Index is showing only a 2.06% gain so far this year, in contrast to both the Nasdaq Biotechnology Index and the Dow Jones Industrial Average, which are up 6.28% and 10.96%, respectively.

Phase II data with San Diego-based Heron Therapeutics Inc.’s pain drug HTX-011 (Zynrelef) graced the online pages of the Journal of the American Podiatric Medical Association in early January, whetting investor thirst for an FDA decision regarding approval, slated by May 12. And the agency’s go-ahead, if it comes, could have special meaning for Pacira Biosciences Inc. with competing analgesic Exparel (bupivacaine).