Fentora Tablets Relief Pain in Cancer Patients, Study Reveals

A new study, presented at the American Academy of Pain Medicine Meeting 2008, here in Orlando, Florida, showed that fentanyl buccal tablet appears pain in a rapid way for cancer patients suffering resistance to opioid treatment pain-relief.

The Fentora tablets (fentanyl) have shown, according to this presentation to relief rapidly acute pain suffered by patients with cancer, Dr. Weinstein said here at the conference. Dr. Sharon Weinstein, anaesthesiologist, is from the Huntsman Cancer Institute in Salt Lake City.

More than two hundred patients were involved in this study. These people were treated previously with opioid for pain relief (persistent cancer-related pain). Then, they were asked to try the Fentora tablets and to answer a questionnaire. More than 85% of the patients said they preferred the Fentora tablets against their traditional pain-relief medication more than 13% said they preferred their traditional opioid meds.

Cancer patients suffer of what is known as "breakthrough pain" (transitory exacerbation of pain). These episodes of breakthrough pain are experienced by 65 to 99% of opioid tolerant patients. It is important to address these episodes of breakthrough pain because they are debilitating and affects the patient's quality of life.

Quick-acting pain relief medications require certain amount of saliva to get the medicine into the body. With the Fentora tablets this problem is solved, making the fentanyl tablets more attractive than other ways of medication ingestion (fentanyl on a lollipop stick)

Keeping breakthrough pain in control is of paramount importance so rapid ways on incorporation of medicines are needed. Certainly, this new Fentora buccal tablets are an improvement for fast relief of breakthrough pain.

Near 90% of those who participated in the study answered that waiting time for pain relief was faster with fentanyl buccal tablets getting abetter control of their pain problem. Also, almost 60% of the participants who used fentanyl buccal tablets said they were more convenient to use.