Here's Why Titan Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:TTNP) Could Be A Great Opioid Play

A few weeks ago, we took a look at Opiant Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:OPNT) as part of this coverage.At the time, the company had just announced a deal with Titan Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:TTNP) that would see the two team up to develop an asset designed to help patients avoid relapse or overdose on opioids over an extended period of time. OPNT Daily ChartRegular readers will know that Opiant is one that we've suggested might be well worth watching on a number of occasions over the past six months or so and, at the time of the above-described collaboration announcement, the company had just run up double digits and was very much validating our thesis.What we didn’t do, however, was consider how the development might affect Titan.Fast forward a few weeks and it turns out that Titan could be set to benefit from the collaboration just as much, if not more, than Opiant.Here's why, and why the company is one to watch going forward.First, a bit of background.Opiant is developing drugs that are designed to help combat the increasingly problematic opioid epidemic in the US. Said epidemic is gaining more and more coverage on a national platform of late and Donald Trump just declared a nationwide public health emergency to combat the so-called crisis.Opiant was the developer of the nasal spray formulation of Narcan, which is used widely to help reverse opioid overdoses, and the company is working on a vaccine to help limit the effects of opioids on the body as we speak.Titan, on the other hand, has developed (and is currently testing) a device called ProNeura. It's an implant type device that's designed to provide a continuous and steady dose of an active compound across an extended period of time, with the current iteration of the product being able to achieve this delivery over around a six-month period.Readers have probably guessed where we are going with this…The two companies have teamed up to create an extended release opioid inhibitor. Basically, Opiant has created an opioid antagonist (which renders opioids ineffective) and the company is going to put the compound in Titan's ProNeura system and try and get it approved as a therapy for recovering addicts.So why is this so exciting for Titan?Well, it's a case of timing.The company has plenty of potential targets for this technology but none of them are as relevant right now as a long-term opioid inhibitor. It's not going to take much in the way of development advance to get the program picking up some considerable media coverage and – on the back of said coverage – there's a strong chance we'll see some speculative inflow of volume towards Titan and Opiant.So why does Titan stand to benefit from this more than Opiant?Because Opiant is already enjoying something of a premium rooted in its links to a very hot space right now (the opioid space) and has been benefiting from various bits of news/media coverage for the last six months based on its well-established ties.Titan, on the other hand, is just entering the space. And it's doing so with what could prove a potentially game-changing approach to one of the most challenging aspects of overcoming addiction – something like 90% of opioid addicts relapse, which is what's led to the epidemic in its current form.This is a young collaboration, so keep in mind that the two companies are probably going to need to raise some cash in order to really get the program moving. With that said, however, there's plenty of upside potential (especially in Titan) right now as things move forward, so a degree of dilution isn’t prohibitive to an exposure to Titan at current prices.We will be updating our subscribers as soon as we know more. For the latest updates on TTNP, sign up below!Image courtesy of Brandon Giesbrecht via FlickrDisclosure: We have no position in TTNP and have not been compensated for this article.