• Giovambattista Zeppetella, John Messina, Fang Xie, and Neal E Slatkin.
• St Clare Hospice, Hastingwood, Essex, UK. john.zeppetella@stclarehospice.org.uk
• Pain Pract. 2010 Jul 1;10(4):287-93.

AbstractFentanyl buccal tablet (FBT) has shown efficacy and tolerability in patients with cancer-related persistent pain treated with maintenance opioids. We conducted a combined analysis of two similarly designed, randomized, placebo-controlled studies to further evaluate the consistency and clinical relevance of analgesia outcomes. Of the 252 patients enrolled, 150 fulfilled the criteria for efficacy analysis and experienced 1,417 breakthrough pain episodes. A consistently greater effect was noted with FBT vs. placebo on the following measures: improvements from baseline of >or=33% and >or=50% in pain intensity (PI), a >or=2-point reduction in PI, and a score of >or=2 for pain relief. Improvements in these clinically meaningful efficacy measures were seen with FBT at 15 minutes (earliest common evaluation) and remained evident at 60 minutes (final common evaluation). They were also reflected in a more favorable global medication performance assessment for FBT over placebo. FBT was generally well tolerated; most adverse events were typical of potent opioid use in a cancer population. Application-site (buccal) abnormalities were infrequent and led to withdrawal of three patients. There were no serious adverse events or deaths attributable to FBT. This analysis suggests that FBT provides an analgesic effect that is consistent across multiple clinically relevant efficacy measures.

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