Detox and maintenance is an interesting possibility. I hope a partner will explore that.
I believe that NKTR-181 is approvable provided the safety study comes out clean. I also expect that an FDA advisory committee review will occur, which will be a whole lot of fun. I would expect extended discussion about the addiction potential of NKTR-181. The FDA was burned before about how abuse resistant opioids would reduce drug addiction. How did that turn out? Once burned, twice shy. The FDA doesn't have an issue with opioids that are not addictive at therapeutic levels. Loperamide can be purchased over the counter. The addiction potential shouldn't affect approval, but it would be outstanding if there was some FDA agreement that there are therapeutic levels of NKTR-181 at which addiction potential is low.