Mesothelioma patients may get relief from breakthrough pain from Instanyl

Oct 8, 2009

Pain management is a central issue in the treatment of <!– /* Font Definitions */ @font-face {font-family:Calibri; panose-1:2 15 5 2 2 2 4 3 2 4; mso-font-charset:0; mso-generic-font-family:swiss; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:-1610611985 1073750139 0 0 159 0;} /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-parent:”"; margin-top:0in; margin-right:0in; margin-bottom:10.0pt; margin-left:0in; line-height:115%; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family:Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family:”Times New Roman”;} a:link, span.MsoHyperlink {color:blue; text-decoration:underline; text-underline:single;} a:visited, span.MsoHyperlinkFollowed {color:purple; text-decoration:underline; text-underline:single;} @page Section1 {size:8.5in 11.0in; margin:1.0in 1.25in 1.0in 1.25in; mso-header-margin:.5in; mso-footer-margin:.5in; mso-paper-source:0;} div.Section1 {page:Section1;} –> mesothelioma patients and other cancer patients.  Breakthrough pain is a pervasive, special challenge in pain management, and the promise of a new resource to deal with breakthough pain is very exciting.

In a presentation made at the sixth congress of the European Federation of Chapters of the International Association for the Study of Pain (EFIC), a multinational crossover trial confirmed that Instanyl intranasal fentanyl spray provided better relief of breakthrough pain in cancer patients when compared to oral transmucosal fentanyl citrate (OTFC).

During the study, Instanyl provided meaningful pain relief within five minutes of treatment for 25% of breakthrough cancer pain episodes, compared with 7% with OTFC. Fifty-one percent of patients using Instanyl reported meaningful pain relief at 10 minutes, compared with only 24% with OTFC. Additionally, 90% of cancer patients in the study indicated that Instanyl was “easy” or “very easy” to use, compared with 40% of OTFC patients. Seventy-seven percent of patients in the study preferred Instanyl to OTFC.

As many as 95% of cancer patients experience breakthrough pain, and two-thirds of these patients report inadequate pain control.  Breakthrough cancer pain is too often under-treated in patients. The President of EFIC stated that Instanyl will help improve the pain management and care of cancer patients.

For the full story, go to PR-USA.

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