6533b838fe1ef96bd12a4574

RESEARCH PRODUCT

Breakthrough Pain (BTP) in Opioid-Tolerant Cancer Patients: A Pan-European Open-Label Multicentre Study with Fentanyl Buccal Tablet (FBT)

subject

description

ABSTRACT BTP, a transitory exacerbation of pain that occurs on a background of otherwise controlled persistent pain, is a common problem in cancer patients. FBT is indicated for the treatment of BTP in adults with cancer already receiving maintenance opioid therapy for chronic cancer pain and should be titrated to an effective dose that provides adequate analgesia and minimises undesirable events. In this study, patients entered a screening period and were randomized during an open-label titration period to a starting FBT dose of 100 µg (group A) or 200 µg (group B) to identify the FBT effective dose and then treated in an open-label period (for 8 BTP episodes). Patients' inclusion followed the FBT label. 442 patients were screened from 135 European sites (7 countries) and 330 were enrolled into the titration period [group A (156); group B (174)]. Cancer history of the patients: breast (20.3%), lung (14.2%), colon/rectum (12.1%), other (24.5%). The most frequent extent of the disease was bone metastasis and local disease, for 45.8% and 40.6% of patients, respectively. 312 (94.5%) received at least one dose of study drug during the titration period [group A (145; 92.9%); group B (167; 96.0%). The effective dose rate (primary outcome) was 75.2% in the group A compared to 81.4% in the group B with non-inferiority established. Medication performance was assessed during the treatment period using a 5-point scale (0 = poor to 4 = excellent). Responses at 30 min. and at 60 min. post dose were “good” to “excellent” for 70.3% (1248/1176 BTP) and 82.4% (1374/1668 BTP) respectively. Patients' quality of life and functional status [modified Brief Pain Inventory-short version 7 item subscale (BPI-7S)] improved after treatment with FBT [BPI-7S global score [mean (SD)] decreased from 39.7 (15.85) before to 31.6 (16.8) after treatment. The ease of use of FBT was rated “very easy/convenient” and “easy/convenient” for 82.5% (174/211) of patients. Safety data do not indicate concerns with use of FBT and were as expected for cancer patients with opioid treatments. These results demonstrate that FBT was safe and efficacious in a real-world clinical practice setting with a large number of cancer patients experiencing BTP. Disclosure S. Mercadante: Investigator, A. Davies: Investigator, J. Jarosz: Investigator, U.R. Kleeberg: Investigator, T. O'Brien: Investigator, P. Poulain: Investigator H. Schneid: Teva Pharmaceutical employee.