Oxymorphone liberación prolongada en tratamiento de dolor osteoartritico. (Ing.)

ORLANDO, FL -- March 5, 2004 -- Oxymorphone extended release (ER) appears to be well tolerated and effective for treatment of moderate to severe chronic pain in patients with osteoarthritis, researchers stated here on March 5th at the American Academy of Pain Medicine 20th Annual Meeting.

"Our study shows great pain control in patients over a dosing frequency of 12 hours," said E. Gould, PhD, presenter, Endo Pharmaceuticals, Inc, Chadds, VA. "This study followed osteoarthritis patients for over a year and the pain relief was maintained for over a year with very little dose 'creep' over that period of time."

For this study investigators enrolled 153 patients who had chronic pain associated with osteoarthritis. Patients had participated in a previous randomised, double blind trial of oxymorphone ER and were enrolled in a 2-year, open-label multicentre trial of oxymorphone ER every 12 hours. Patients who had received placebo in the previous study received oxymorphone 20 mg every 12 hours in the new study.

The effectiveness of oxymorphone was determined through pain intensity scores (5-point categorical scale and Visual Analog Scale [VAS]) and patients' global assessment at each office visit. Sixty-one patients completed treatment and 92 discontinued the study, most due to nonserious adverse events such as nausea, constipation, somnolence and vomiting.

Of the patients who completed the study 80% rated oxymorphone ER as either "excellent", "very good", or "good" at relieving pain. The researchers noted, "Changes in mean current pain assessments were similar to those observed for the pain recall scores."

They concluded that oxymorphone ER is safe and effective and might be a new alternative for osteoarthritis patients with moderate to severe chronic pain who need long-term opioid therapy.

[Study title: Oxymorphone Maintains Effectiveness and is Well Tolerated During Long-Term Treatment of Moderate to Severe Osteoarthritis Pain. Poster 139]