Pacira Announces Exclusive Agreement with Molteni Farmaceutici to Commercialize EXPAREL® in the European Union and United Kingdom

Pacira will receive an upfront payment, supply payments and royalties, while Molteni handles commercialization in licensed territories.

Rhea-AI Summary

Pacira BioSciences (PCRX) signed an exclusive agreement with Molteni Farmaceutici to commercialize EXPAREL in the European Union and United Kingdom. Pacira will manufacture the postsurgical pain treatment and receive an undisclosed upfront payment, a supply price, and royalties on Molteni’s future commercial sales in licensed territories. Molteni will handle regulatory, market access, and commercialization activities.

Molteni plans sequential launches beginning with Italy, Germany, Austria, and Poland, with the first commercial sale expected in 2027, and will pursue Swiss approval. Separately, Pacira granted two new employees options for 3,600 shares at $25.21 per share and restricted stock units for 4,200 shares on October 2, 2026.

4 points · 0 major

PositiveiHow this balance works

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Rhea-AI gives every point it takes from this document a weight. Minor counts 1, Moderate 3 and Major 9, so one Major point outweighs several Minor ones. The bar adds up the weights on each side, and when neither side holds more than 65% of the total the balance reads Mixed.

It reads the document as published, with the same rules for every company, and it does not look at what the market expected or at how the stock traded, so a point can be objectively good on a day the stock falls.

Rhea-AI Sentiment measures something else, the tone of the wording.

How the balance worksHow Sentiment works

0 major · 2 points

Hollow bars mark forward-looking points. How the balance works

Positive

• Moderate pointExclusive Molteni agreement covers EXPAREL distribution and commercialization in the European Union and United Kingdom.
• Minor point. Forward-looking: it has not happened yet and may not happen.Undisclosed upfront payment is payable to Pacira under the agreement.
• Minor point. Forward-looking: it has not happened yet and may not happen.Supply price and royalties provide payments to Pacira on supply and future Molteni commercial sales, respectively.
• Minor point. Forward-looking: it has not happened yet and may not happen.Planned sequential launches begin with Italy, Germany, Austria, and Poland; first commercial sale is expected in 2027.

Negative

• Minor point. Forward-looking: it has not happened yet and may not happen.Swiss approval remains to be pursued by Molteni before commercialization there.
• Minor point. Forward-looking: it has not happened yet and may not happen.3,600 stock options at $25.21 and 4,200 restricted stock units create potential shareholder dilution.

Key Figures

Expected first commercial sale: 2027 Stock options granted: 3,600 shares Restricted stock units granted: 4,200 shares +1 more

Expected first commercial sale

2027

EXPAREL in the licensed territories

Stock options granted

3,600 shares

Inducement awards to two new employees

Restricted stock units granted

4,200 shares

Inducement awards to two new employees

Option exercise price

$25.21 per share

Inducement awards

Key Terms

bupivacaine liposome injectable suspension, restricted stock units, interscalene brachial plexus block, adductor canal block, +1 more

5 terms

bupivacaine liposome injectable suspension medical

"EXPAREL® (bupivacaine liposome injectable suspension)"

A long-acting formulation of the local anesthetic bupivacaine packaged inside microscopic fat-based bubbles (liposomes) and delivered as a liquid injection to surgical sites to provide slow, sustained pain relief after procedures. Investors pay attention because extended-duration pain control can change hospital and surgeon prescribing habits, reduce use of additional pain drugs or re-dosing, and influence sales, market share, reimbursement and regulatory scrutiny—similar to swapping multiple short-acting doses for a single slow-release dose.

restricted stock units financial

"and restricted stock units for an aggregate of 4,200 shares"

Restricted stock units are a type of company reward where employees are promised shares of stock, but they only fully own these shares after meeting certain conditions, like staying with the company for a set time. They matter because they can become valuable assets and are often used to motivate employees to help the company succeed.

interscalene brachial plexus block medical

"via an interscalene brachial plexus block in adults"

A regional nerve block that numbs the shoulder and upper arm by injecting local anesthetic around the brachial plexus where it runs between the anterior and middle scalene muscles in the neck. It is performed with anatomical guidance and often ultrasound or nerve stimulation so the anesthetic bathes the upper roots/trunks of the brachial plexus, producing pain relief and motor blockade of the shoulder and lateral arm while typically leaving some lower-arm/hand sensation intact. Because of the injection site, the block commonly affects nearby structures—most notably the phrenic nerve, which can cause temporary diaphragmatic paralysis on the same side—and carries standard regional-anesthesia risks such as nerve injury, local anesthetic toxicity, bleeding, and infection.

adductor canal block medical

"and an adductor canal block in adults"

A regional anesthesia technique that delivers local anesthetic into the adductor canal—a tissue space on the inner thigh—to block sensory nerves (primarily the saphenous nerve and sometimes the nerve to vastus medialis) supplying the front and inner side of the knee and lower leg. It provides postoperative pain relief for procedures such as knee surgery while generally preserving most quadriceps muscle strength compared with a femoral nerve block; it does not reliably numb the back of the knee or leg because it does not affect sciatic nerve branches. The block can be given as a single injection or as a continuous infusion via a catheter for extended analgesia.

multivesicular liposomes technical

"The product combines bupivacaine with multivesicular liposomes"

Multivesicular liposomes are a type of lipid-based drug delivery particle made up of many discrete, non-concentric aqueous compartments enclosed within a continuous external lipid membrane. Each compartment can contain water-soluble (hydrophilic) drug or agent, and the many internal chambers and lipid barriers slow and control release as the particle degrades or the drug diffuses out, producing a sustained-release effect. They differ from unilamellar or multilamellar liposomes because their interior contains multiple separate vesicle-like chambers rather than a single core or concentric bilayers.

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– Expands patient access to opioid-sparing pain control and advances 5x30 strategy – 

BRISBANE, Calif., Oct. 05, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Pacira BioSciences, Inc. (NASDAQ: PCRX), the industry leader in its commitment to deliver innovative, non-opioid pain therapies to transform the lives of patients, today announced a strategic partnership with Molteni Farmaceutici to expand access to opioid-sparing postsurgical pain management across European markets. Through this partnership, Molteni Farmaceutici will receive exclusive rights to distribute and commercialize EXPAREL® (bupivacaine liposome injectable suspension), Pacira’s long-acting, local analgesic for postsurgical pain management, within the licensed territories.

“We are excited to announce another strategic partnership that advances our 5x30 growth strategy and reinforces our commitment to expanding patient access to best-practice opioid-sparing postsurgical pain management,” said Frank D. Lee, chief executive officer of Pacira BioSciences. “With Molteni Farmaceutici’s longstanding leadership in pain management and extensive distribution network across Europe, they are ideally positioned to unlock EXPAREL’s full potential in key European markets.”

“This agreement is highly complementary with Molteni’s strategic priorities, and represents an important step in Molteni’s international growth and expansion strategy, while adding an innovative and differentiated medicine to our portfolio. We believe EXPAREL represents a compelling opportunity to address the significant unmet need for effective postsurgical pain management across Europe,” said Gianluca Corbinelli, chief executive officer at Molteni Farmaceutici. “We look forward to bringing this important treatment to more patients and healthcare providers across the region.”

Under the terms of the agreement, Pacira will receive an undisclosed upfront payment, a supply price, and royalties on future commercial sales by Molteni Farmaceutici in licensed territories. Pacira will manufacture EXPAREL. Molteni Farmaceutici will lead regulatory, market access, and commercialization activities across the licensed territories, leveraging its established leadership and proven track record in pain management. Molteni Farmaceutici plans to launch EXPAREL sequentially, beginning with Italy, Germany, Austria, and Poland, and pursue approval in Switzerland. The first commercial sale is expected in 2027.

This partnership reflects the companies’ shared commitment to improving postsurgical pain management by combining Pacira’s differentiated product with Molteni Farmaceutici’s strong commercial execution capabilities and deep understanding of local European markets.

Locust Walk acted as the exclusive financial advisor to Pacira in the transaction.

About Molteni Farmaceutici

Molteni Farmaceutici is an Italian pharmaceutical company with a long-standing heritage of over 130 years and a strong focus on specialty care. The company is recognized for its commitment to excellence in pain management, oncology supportive care and hospital-based treatments, delivering high-quality therapies that improve patient outcomes and quality of life.

About Pacira

Pacira delivers innovative, non-opioid pain therapies to transform the lives of patients. Pacira has two commercial-stage non-opioid treatments: EXPAREL^® (bupivacaine liposome injectable suspension), a long-acting local analgesic for post-surgical pain management and ZILRETTA^® (triamcinolone acetonide extended-release injectable suspension), an extended-release, intra-articular injection indicated for the management of osteoarthritis knee pain. The company is also advancing a pipeline of clinical-stage assets for musculoskeletal pain and adjacencies. Its most advanced product candidate, PCRX-201 (enekinragene inzadenovec), a novel locally administered gene therapy, is in Phase 2 clinical development for osteoarthritis of the knee. To learn more about Pacira, visit www.pacira.com.

About EXPAREL^® (bupivacaine liposome injectable suspension)

EXPAREL is indicated to produce postsurgical local analgesia via infiltration in patients aged 6 years and older, and postsurgical regional analgesia via an interscalene brachial plexus block in adults, a sciatic nerve block in the popliteal fossa in adults, and an adductor canal block in adults. The safety and effectiveness of EXPAREL have not been established to produce postsurgical regional analgesia via other nerve blocks besides an interscalene brachial plexus nerve block, a sciatic nerve block in the popliteal fossa, or an adductor canal block. The product combines bupivacaine with multivesicular liposomes, a proven product delivery technology that delivers medication over a desired time period. EXPAREL represents the first and only multivesicular liposome local anesthetic that can be utilized in the peri- or postsurgical setting. By utilizing the multivesicular liposome platform, a single dose of EXPAREL delivers bupivacaine over time, providing significant reductions in cumulative pain scores with up to a 78 percent decrease in opioid consumption; the clinical benefit of the opioid reduction was not demonstrated. Additional information is available at www.EXPAREL.com.

Important Safety Information about EXPAREL for Patients

EXPAREL should not be used in obstetrical paracervical block anesthesia. In studies in adults where EXPAREL was injected into a wound, the most common side effects were nausea, constipation, and vomiting. In studies in adults where EXPAREL was injected near a nerve, the most common side effects were nausea, fever, and constipation. In the study where EXPAREL was given to children, the most common side effects were nausea, vomiting, constipation, low blood pressure, low number of red blood cells, muscle twitching, blurred vision, itching, and rapid heartbeat. EXPAREL can cause a temporary loss of feeling and/or loss of muscle movement. How much and how long the loss of feeling and/or muscle movement depends on where and how much of EXPAREL was injected and may last for up to 5 days. EXPAREL is not recommended to be used in patients younger than 6 years old for injection into the wound, for patients younger than 18 years old, for injection near a nerve, and/or in pregnant women. Tell your health care provider if you or your child has liver disease, since this may affect how the active ingredient (bupivacaine) in EXPAREL is eliminated from the body. EXPAREL should not be injected into the spine, joints, or veins. The active ingredient in EXPAREL can affect the nervous system and the cardiovascular system; may cause an allergic reaction; may cause damage if injected into the joints; and can cause a rare blood disorder.

Pacira BioSciences Reports Inducement Grants Under Nasdaq Listing Rule 5635(c)(4)

Today, Pacira announced the granting of inducement awards on October 2, 2026 to two new employees under Pacira’s Amended and Restated 2014 Inducement Plan (the “Inducement Plan”) as a material inducement to each employee’s entry into employment with the company. In accordance with Nasdaq Listing Rule 5635(c)(4), the awards were approved by the People & Compensation Committee of the Board of Directors (the “Committee”) without stockholder approval.

The two employees received stock options to purchase an aggregate of 3,600 shares of Pacira common stock and restricted stock units for an aggregate of 4,200 shares of Pacira common stock. The stock options have a 10-year term and a four-year vesting schedule with 25 percent of the underlying shares vesting on the first anniversary of the recipient’s first day of employment and in successive equal quarterly installments over the 36 months thereafter. The stock options have an exercise price of $25.21 per share, the closing trading price of Pacira common stock on the Nasdaq Global Select Market on the date of grant. Each restricted stock unit represents the contingent right to receive one share of Pacira common stock and the restricted stock unit awards vest annually in four equal installments beginning on October 1, 2027.

Vesting of the equity awards is subject to the employee’s continued employment with Pacira. Each equity award is also subject to the terms and conditions of an award agreement.

Forward-Looking Statements 

Any statements in this press release about Pacira’s future expectations, plans, trends, outlook, projections and prospects, and other statements containing the words “anticipate,” “believe,” “can,” “could,” “estimate,” “expect,” “intend,” “may,” “plan,” “project,” “should,” “will,” “would,” and similar expressions, constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”), and the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, including, without limitation, statements related to: the ability to realize the anticipated benefits of the divestiture of iovera®°; '5x30', our growth and business strategy, our future outlook, the strength and efficacy of our intellectual property protection and patent terms, our future growth potential and future financial and operating results and trends, our plans, objectives, expectations (financial or otherwise) and intentions, including our plans with respect to the repayment of our indebtedness, anticipated product portfolio and product development programs, strategic alliances, plans with respect to the Non-Opioids Prevent Addiction in the Nation (“NOPAIN”) Act, and any other statements that are not historical facts. For this purpose, any statement that is not a statement of historical fact should be considered a forward-looking statement. We cannot assure you that our estimates, assumptions and expectations will prove to have been correct. Actual results may differ materially from these indicated by such forward-looking statements as a result of various important factors, including risks relating to, among others: risks associated with acquisitions, such as the risk that the acquired businesses and/or assets will not be integrated successfully, that such integration may be more difficult, time-consuming or costly than expected or that the expected benefits of the transaction will not occur; risks associated with divestitures; our manufacturing and supply chain, global and United States economic conditions (including tariffs, inflation and rising interest rates), and our business, including our revenues, financial condition, cash flows and results of operations; the success of our sales and manufacturing efforts in support of the commercialization of EXPAREL and ZILRETTA; the rate and degree of market acceptance of EXPAREL and ZILRETTA; the size and growth of the potential markets for EXPAREL and ZILRETTA and our ability to serve those markets; our plans to expand the use of EXPAREL and ZILRETTA to additional indications and opportunities, and the timing and success of any related clinical trials for EXPAREL, ZILRETTA and any of our other product candidates, including, but not limited to, PCRX-201 and PCRX-2002; the commercial success of EXPAREL and ZILRETTA; the related timing and success of United States Food and Drug Administration supplemental New Drug Applications and premarket notification 510(k)s; the related timing and success of European Medicines Agency Marketing Authorization Applications; our plans to evaluate, develop and pursue additional product candidates utilizing our proprietary high-capacity adenovirus (“HCAd”) vector platform; the approval of the commercialization of our products in other jurisdictions (by either us or our partners); clinical trials in support of an existing or potential HCAd-based product candidate; our commercialization and marketing capabilities; our ability to successfully complete capital projects; the outcome of any litigation; the recoverability of our deferred tax assets; assumptions associated with contingent consideration payments; assumptions used for estimated future cash flows associated with determining the fair value of the Company; the anticipated funding or benefits of our share repurchase program; and factors discussed in the “Risk Factors” of our most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K and in other filings that we periodically make with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”). In addition, the forward-looking statements included in this press release represent our views as of the date of this press release. Important factors could cause actual results to differ materially from those indicated or implied by forward-looking statements, and as such we anticipate that subsequent events and developments will cause our views to change. Except as required by applicable law, we undertake no intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, and readers should not rely on these forward-looking statements as representing our views as of any date subsequent to the date of this press release.

These forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause our actual results, levels of activity, performance or achievements to differ materially from those expressed or implied by these statements. These factors include the matters discussed and referenced in the “Risk Factors” of our most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K and in other filings that we periodically make with the SEC.

Investor Contact: Susan Mesco, (973) 451-4030 susan.mesco@pacira.com

Media Contact: Kim Hamilton, (908) 721-7067 kim.hamilton@pacira.com

FAQ

AI-generated questions and answers. How Rhea-AI works. Not financial advice.

What payments will Pacira receive under the Molteni EXPAREL agreement?

Pacira will receive an undisclosed upfront payment, a supply price, and royalties on future commercial sales by Molteni in licensed territories. Pacira will manufacture EXPAREL, while Molteni will lead regulatory, market access, and commercialization activities.

When does Molteni expect to launch Pacira’s EXPAREL in Europe?

The first commercial sale is expected in 2027. Molteni plans to launch sequentially, beginning with Italy, Germany, Austria, and Poland, and to pursue approval in Switzerland.

How do Pacira’s October 2, 2026 employee equity awards vest?

Pacira’s options vest over four years, and the restricted stock units vest in four equal annual installments beginning October 1, 2027. Options vest 25 percent on the first anniversary of employment, followed by equal quarterly installments over 36 months. The options have a 10-year term, and all vesting requires continued employment.