AcelRx pain treatment meets late-stage study goal

(Reuters) – AcelRx Pharmaceuticals Inc said its experimental drug-device combination for post-operative pain met the main goal of a late-stage study on patients who have undergone major open abdominal surgery. AcelRx shares jumped 10 percent to $5.49 after the bell on Monday. The top-line results reported from a 178-patient study of AcelRx’s sublingual Sufentanil NanoTab PCA system showed that the patient-controlled drug-device combination helped reduce pain significantly compared with a placebo, the company said. (Reporting by Zeba Siddiqui in Bangalore; Editing by Roshni Menon)