Pain
-
Randomized Controlled Trial Multicenter Study
Efficacy and Tolerability of Buccal Buprenorphine in Opioid-Experienced Patients With Moderate to Severe Chronic Low Back Pain: Results of a Phase 3, Enriched Enrollment, Randomized Withdrawal Study.
A buccal film of buprenorphine (BBUP) was evaluated for safety and efficacy in a multicenter, double-blind, placebo-controlled, enriched-enrollment, randomized-withdrawal study in opioid-experienced patients (30 to ≤160 mg/d morphine sulfate equivalent) with moderate to severe chronic low back pain taking around-the-clock opioid analgesics. Patients' opioid doses were tapered to ≤30 mg morphine sulfate equivalent before open-label titration with BBUP (range, 150-900 μg every 12 hours). Patients who responded (received adequate analgesia that was generally well tolerated for 14 days) were randomized to receive buprenorphine (n = 254) or placebo (n = 257) buccal film. ⋯ A significantly larger percentage of patients receiving BBUP than placebo had pain reductions ≥30% and ≥50% (P < 0.001 for both). In the double-blind portion of the study, the only adverse event reported more frequently with BBUP than placebo and in ≥5% of patients was vomiting (5.5% vs 2.3%). These findings demonstrate the efficacy and tolerability of BBUP in opioid-experienced patients taking around-the-clock opioid treatment for chronic low back pain.