About Us

AcelRx Pharmaceuticals, Inc. is an emerging specialty pharmaceutical company based in Redwood City, California, founded in 2005 by Thomas Schreck and Pamela Palmer, MD, PhD.  Tom was Principal Founder of DURECT Corporation, a specialty pharmaceutical company he spun out of Alza Corporation in 1998, while Pam is currently Professor and Director of UCSF’s PainCARE (Center for Advanced Research and Education) and also the Principal Founder of Omeros Medical Systems, Inc. AcelRx’s therapeutic focus is on the treatment of intermittent and acute conditions, with an initial emphasis on pain management.  The Company has raised approximately $40MM in two initial venture rounds, the Series A in August 2006, and the Series B in February 2008, and an additional $12MM in venture debt financing in September 2008.  The Company’s investors include Three Arch, Alta Partners, Skyline Ventures, Kaiser Permanente Ventures and Pinnacle Ventures.

The Company currently has three product candidates in clinical development. The initial product candidates all utilize the highly selective mu opioid agonist sufentanil, currently approved for intravenous administration as an anesthetic and analgesic. The analgesic efficacy and safety of sufentanil has been well demonstrated in both animals and humans.