• Steven R Ripa, Bill H McCarberg, Catherine Munera, Warren Wen, and Craig J Landau.
• Purdue Pharma LP, One Stamford Forum, Stamford, CT 06901-3431, USA.
• Expert Opin Pharmacother. 2012 Jun 1;13(9):1229-41.

ObjectiveThe objective of this study was to evaluate continued pain control and tolerability of converting patients from Vicodin (hydrocodone/acetaminophen; HCD/APAP) to the buprenorphine transdermal system (BTDS).MethodsAdult patients with pain from osteoarthritis receiving a stable dosage of HCD/APAP (i.e., 15 - 30 mg hydrocodone/day) were switched to an equivalent or near-equivalent dosage of open-label Vicodin for 7 days. Patients maintaining acceptable analgesia were stratified based on their Vicodin dosage and randomized to receive either titratable BTDS 10 μg/h or fixed-dose BTDS 20 μg/h. The primary efficacy variable was completion of the 14-day double-blind phase. Tolerability was assessed.ResultsA total of 84.3% of patients met the primary end point, completion of the 14-day double-blind phase (167/198 patients, 95% CI 79.3 - 89.4). Adverse events were consistent with those associated with the use of opioid analgesics and transdermal patches.ConclusionThere was a similar analgesic and tolerability profile when patients treated with Vicodin for osteoarthritis pain were switched to 7-day BTDS treatment.

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