Having secured FDA approval for its drug, Trazadone OD, now known as Oleptro, an even bigger task now faces Labopharm: making the drug a commercial success. While shares in the group may have risen by 5% in early morning trading to C$2.87, keeping the stock up, which is already 31% higher this year, will depend on the group’s commercialisation strategy.

Today, in a press release Labopharm said it was actively exploring several alternatives for launching the drug in the US. The options currently on the table include out-licensing, while retaining the rights to some form of co-promotions, through to a full co-promotion arrangement with Labopharm sharing sales and cost of sales with a partner. But rather worryingly for investors the group refused to commit to a timetable for when these talks might be concluded and instead offered the vague time frame of “in the near term”.