Seven-day, transdermal buprenorphine patches are as effective as sublingual buprenorphine in the treatment of patients with osteoarthritis pain, according to a randomized, double-blind clinical trial recently published on-line ahead of print in the Journal of Pain and Symptom Management.
Seven-day, transdermal buprenorphine patches are as effective as sublingual buprenorphine in the treatment of patients with osteoarthritis pain, according to a randomized, double-blind clinical trial recently published on-line ahead of print in the Journal of Pain and Symptom Management.
In this clinical trial, researchers randomized 246 patients (110 completed the study) between the ages of 18 and 80 with osteoarthritis pain in either the hip(s) and/or knee(s) to receive 7-day transdermal buprenorphine patches (5, 10, and 20 µg/hour) or sublingual buprenorphine (200-mg and 400-mg tablets). Both medications were titrated to pain control (over a 21-day period) and patients were treated for up to 7 weeks. The primary outcome measure of this study was pain intensity (as measured by Box Scale-11 [BS-11], where 0=no pain; 10=pain as bad as you can imagine) at day 28.
During the 28-day assessment period, the mean treatment differences in BS-11 scores were 0.00 (95% CI, –0.68 to 0.69), –0.11 (95% CI, –0.85 to 0.63), and –0.13 (95% CI, –0.95 to 0.68), for the morning, midday, and evening scores. All the confidence intervals were within the pre-specified limits (–1.5 to 1.5) suggesting equivalent pain control with buprenorphine patches and sublingual tablets. The use of escape medication was low.
In addition to equivalent efficacy, transdermal buprenorphine was found to have superior tolerability in this randomized trial. Significantly fewer patients receiving the transdermal buprenorphine patches reported nausea, dizziness and vomiting compared with the sublingual formulation (P<.039 for all).
Coalition promotes important acetaminophen dosing reminders
November 18th 2014It may come as a surprise that each year Americans catch approximately 1 billion colds, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that as many as 20% get the flu. This cold and flu season, 7 in 10 patients will reach for an over-the-counter (OTC) medicine to treat their coughs, stuffy noses, and sniffles. It’s an important time of the year to remind patients to double check their medicine labels so they don’t double up on medicines containing acetaminophen.
Support consumer access to specialty medications through value-based insurance design
June 30th 2014The driving force behind consumer cost-sharing provisions for specialty medications is the acquisition cost and not clinical value. This appears to be true for almost all public and private health plans, says a new report from researchers at the University of Michigan Center for Value-Based Insurance Design (V-BID Center) and the National Pharmaceutical Council (NPC).
Management of antipsychotic medication polypharmacy
June 13th 2013Within our healthcare-driven society, the increase in the identification and diagnosis of mental illnesses has led to a proportional increase in the prescribing of psychotropic medications. The prevalence of mental illnesses and subsequent treatment approaches may employ monotherapy as first-line treatment, but in many cases the use of combination of therapy can occur, leading to polypharmacy.1 Polypharmacy can be defined in several ways but it generally recognized as the use of multiple medications by one patient and the most common definition is the concurrent use of five more medications. The presence of polyharmacy has the potential to contribute to non-compliance, drug-drug interactions, medication errors, adverse events, or poor quality of life.
Medical innovation improves outcomes
June 12th 2013I have been diagnosed with stage 4 cancer of the pancreas, a disease that’s long been considered not just incurable, but almost impossible to treat-a recalcitrant disease that some practitioners feel has given oncology a bad name. I was told my life would be measured in weeks.