Search

Food intake can alter the pharmacokinetics of certain medications, including changes in their oral bioavailability, which is of particular concern for extended-release (ER) opioids because of the high drug loads. Two randomized, open-label studies assessed the effect of food on the pharmacokinetics of single and multiple doses of hydrocodone ER formulated with CIMA® Abuse-Deterrence Technology. Healthy subjects in fed and fasted states received single 90-mg doses of hydrocodone ER (Studies 1 and 2) or multiple doses of hydrocodone ER (45 mg twice daily on days 2–3, 60 mg twice daily on days 4–5, 90 mg twice daily on days 6–10, and 90 mg once in the morning on day 11) (Study 2). Naltrexone was administered to minimize opioid-related adverse events. Pharmacokinetic parameters included maximum hydrocodone plasma concentration (C max) and area under the concentration-versus-time curve from time 0 to infinity (AUC0–∞) in Study 1 (day 1) and for one dosing interval at steady state (AUCτ,ss) in Study 2 (day 11). Before conducting the multiple-dose study, single-dose data were fitted with a population pharmacokinetic methodology. In total, 40 subjects were randomized to Study 1 and 43 subjects were randomized to Study 2. While overall exposure (AUC0–∞) was relatively similar (least squares mean ratio [90% CI]: 1.11 [1.06–1.16]), results indicated that the single-dose C max was 40% higher under fed versus fasted conditions (least squares mean ratio [90% CI]: 1.40 [1.31–1.51]; Study 1). Modeling of single-dose data predicted that the effect of food would be much less at steady state [predicted fed:fasted C max at steady state (C max,ss) and AUCτ,ss ratios of 1.18 and 1.09, respectively]. The multiple-dose study results validated these predicted ratios and indicated that the steady-state 90% CIs were within 0.80–1.25 for the fed:fasted C max,ss (1.14 [1.07–1.21]) and AUCτ,ss (1.11 [1.04–1.17]) parameters, indicating that clinically meaningful food effects at steady state are not expected. No evidence of an effect of food was found on the pharmacokinetics of hydrocodone ER after multiple days of twice-daily dosing.

Misuse, abuse and diversion of prescription opioid analgesics represent a global public health concern. The development of abuse-deterrent formulations (ADFs) of prescription opioid analgesics is an important step toward reducing abuse and diversion of these medications, as well as potentially limiting medical consequences when misused or administered in error. ADFs aim to hinder extraction of the active ingredient, prevent administration through alternative routes and/or make abuse of the manipulated product less attractive, less rewarding or aversive. However, opioid ADFs may still be abused via the intended route of administration by increasing the dose and/or dosing frequency. The science of abuse deterrence and the regulatory landscape are still relatively new and evolving. This paper reviews the current status of opioid ADFs, with particular focus on different approaches that can be used to deter abuse, regulatory considerations and implications for clinical management.

Objective: To evaluate long-term safety, maintenance of analgesia, and aberrant drug-related behaviors of hydrocodone extended release (ER) formulated with CIMA ® Abuse-Deterrence Technology. Design: Phase 3, multicenter, open-label extension. Setting: Fifty-six US centers. Patients: Adults with chronic low back pain completing a 12-week placebo-controlled study of abuse-deterrent hydrocodone ER were eligible. One hundred eighty-two patients enrolled and received ≥ 1 dose of study drug, 170 entered open-label treatment, and 136 completed the study. Interventions: Patients receiving hydrocodone ER in the 12-week, placebo-controlled study continued their previous dose unless adjustment was needed; those previously receiving placebo (n = 78) underwent dose titration/adjustment to an analgesic dose (15-90 mg every 12 hours). Patients received 22 weeks of open-label treatment. Main outcome measures: Safety: adverse events (AEs). Maintenance of analgesia: worst pain intensity (WPI) and average pain intensity (API) at each study visit. Aberrant drug behavior: study drug loss and diversion. Results: AEs were reported for 65/182 (36 percent) patients during dose titration/adjustment and 88/170 (52 percent) during open-label treatment. No treatment-related serious AEs were reported. There were no clinically meaningful trends in other safety assessments, including physical examinations and pure tone audiometry. One patient receiving hydrocodone ER 30 mg twice daily experienced a severe AE of neurosensory deafness that was considered treatment related. Mean WPI and API remained steady throughout open-label treatment. Six (3 percent) patients reported medication loss, and 5 (3 percent) reported diversion. Conclusions: Abuse-deterrent hydrocodone ER was generally well tolerated in patients with chronic low back pain, maintained efficacy, and was associated with low rates of loss and diversion.

Background This phase 3 study evaluated quality of life, functioning, and productivity after treatment with extended-release (ER) hydrocodone formulated with CIMA® Abuse-Deterrence Technology platform. Methods Patients with chronic pain were rolled over from a 12-week placebo-controlled hydrocodone ER study or were newly enrolled. Hydrocodone ER doses were titrated (15 to 90 mg every 12 hours) to an analgesic dose, and patients received up to 52 weeks of open-label treatment. Assessments included Clinician Assessment of Patient Function (CAPF), Patient Assessment of Function (PAF), Brief Pain Inventory–Short Form (BPI–SF), 36-item Short-Form Health Survey (SF-36), Sheehan Disability Scale (SDS), and World Health Organization Health and Work Performance Questionnaire–Short Form (HPQ–SF). Results Of 330 enrolled patients, 291 composed the full analysis population. By week 4, ≥ 50% of patients showed improvement from baseline in all 5 CAPF domains (general activities, walking, work/daily living, relationships, and enjoyment of life) and 6 of 7 PAF domains (work attendance, work performance, walking, exercise, socializing, and enjoying life). Mean decreases from baseline of 2 to 3 points were noted for BPI–SF pain interference questions from week 4 through endpoint. Mean improvements from baseline to endpoint in SF-36 subscales ranged from 3.3 to 22.3, and SDS scores improved from moderate (4.8 to 5.1) to mild (2.5 to 2.8) disruptions in work/school, social life, and family life. At endpoint, mean HPQ–SF absolute absenteeism scores decreased from 13.6 to 10.0 hours lost/month and absolute presenteeism scores improved from 67.0 to 77.1. Conclusions Patients receiving hydrocodone ER showed early numeric improvements in functioning that continued throughout this 12-month study.

Objective: To evaluate efficacy and safety of hydrocodone bitartrate extended-release (ER) tablets developed with CIMA® Abuse-Deterrence Technology (ADT) versus placebo in alleviating moderate-to-severe pain in patients with chronic low back pain . Design: Phase 3, randomized, double-blind study consisting of a screening period (7-14 days), open-label titration period ( ≤ 6 weeks), and double-blind treatment period ( ≤ 12 weeks) . Setting: Seventy-eight US centers . Main outcome measures: Changes from baseline at week 12 in weekly average of daily worst pain intensity (WPI; primary efficacy measure), weekly average pain intensity (API; secondary efficacy measure), adverse events (AEs), and study drug loss and diversion . Results: Patients (N = 625) who entered open-label dose titration and identified the analgesic hydrocodone ER dose (30-90 mg every 12 h) providing optimal pain relief with minimal AEs were randomized to hydrocodone ER (n = 191) or placebo (n = 180) for double-blind treatment at the identified dose; 297 patients completed the study. Least squares means [SE] changes from baseline were significantly greater (worsening pain; 11-point scale) with placebo than hydrocodone ER in weekly average of daily WPI (0.74 [0.15] vs 0.11 [0.14]; p < 0.001) and weekly API (0.55 [0.14] vs − 0.03 [0.12]; p < 0.001). The most common AEs with hydrocodone ER were constipation (14 percent) and nausea (10 percent). Study drug loss ( ≤ 4 percent) and diversion ( ≤ 2 percent) rates were low . Conclusions: Hydrocodone ER formulated with ADT was significantly more effective than placebo in alleviating chronic low back pain and demonstrated a safety profile consistent with that of opioids, with a low occurrence of study drug loss and diversion .

There is no widely accepted validated scale to assess the comprehensive symptom burden and severity of neurogenic orthostatic hypotension (NOH). The Orthostatic Hypotension Questionnaire (OHQ) was developed, with two components: the six-item symptoms assessment scale and a four-item daily activity scale to assess the burden of symptoms. Validation analyses were then performed on the two scales and a composite score of the OHQ. The validation analyses of the OHQ were performed using data from patients with NOH participating in a phase IV, double blind, randomized, cross over, placebo-controlled trial of the alpha agonist midodrine. Convergent validity was assessed by correlating OHQ scores with clinician global impression scores of severity as well as with generic health questionnaire scores. Test–retest reliability was evaluated using intraclass correlation coefficients at baseline and crossover in a subgroup of patients who reported no change in symptoms across visits on a patient global impression scores of change. Responsiveness was examined by determining whether worsening or improvement in the patients’ underlying disease status produced an appropriate change in OHQ scores. Baseline data were collected in 137 enrolled patients, follow-up data were collected in 104 patients randomized to treatment arm. Analyses were conducted using all available data. The floor and ceiling effects were minimal. OHQ scores were highly correlated with other patient reported outcome measures, indicating excellent convergent validity. Test–retest reliability was good. OHQ scores could distinguish between patients with severe and patients with less severe symptoms and responded appropriately to midodrine, a pressor agent commonly used to treat NOH. These findings provide empirical evidence that the OHQ can accurately evaluate the severity of symptoms and the functional impact of NOH as well as assess the efficacy of treatment.

Objective: To evaluate long-term safety of hydrocodone extended-release (ER) formulated with CIMA ® Abuse-Deterrence Technology platform. Design: Phase 3, open-label study. Setting: Sixty-one US study centers. Patients: Patients with chronic pain newly enrolled or rolled over from a 12-week, placebo-controlled hydrocodone ER study; 330 patients enrolled, 329 patients received study drug, and 189 completed the study. Intervention: After titrating to an analgesic dose (15-90 mg every 12 hours), patients received ≤ 52 weeks of open-label treatment. Main outcome measures: Safety: adverse events (AEs), vital signs, laboratory values, electrocardiograms, and audiometry. Abuse potential: drug loss and diversion, Screener and Opioid Assessment for Patients with Pain-Revised (SOAPP-R), Addiction Behaviors Checklist (ABC), Current Opioid Misuse Measure (COMM) questionnaires, and Patient Global Assessment (PGA) of pain control. Results: Of 329 patients who received ≥ 1 hydrocodone ER dose, 284 (86 percent) reported ≥ 1 AE and 27 (8 percent) experienced ≥ 1 serious AE. Sixty-two (19 percent) patients withdrew because of AEs, and two AEs leading to death were reported. No serious AEs or AEs leading to death were considered treatment related by the investigator. There were no clinically meaningful trends in other safety assessments. SOAPP-R, ABC, and COMM scores demonstrated low risk of aberrant drug-related behavior. Good/excellent PGA responses were reported by 20 percent of patients at baseline and 75 percent at endpoint. The incidence of drug loss (11 percent) and diversion (2 percent) was low. Conclusions: Hydrocodone ER demonstrated acceptable safety when administered for ≤ 12 months in patients with chronic pain. Low occurrence of aberrant drug-related behavior may support the abuse-deterrence properties of hydrocodone ER.

Martin E Hale,1 Charles Laudadio,2 Ronghua Yang,2 Arvind Narayana,2 Richard Malamut2 1Gold Coast Research, LLC, Plantation, FL, 2Teva Branded Pharmaceutical Products R & D, Inc., Frazer, PA, USA Abstract: This double-blind, placebo-controlled study evaluated the efficacy and safety of hydrocodone extended release (ER) developed with abuse-deterrence technology to provide sustained pain relief and limit effects of alcohol and tablet manipulation on drug release. Eligible patients with chronic moderate-to-severe low back or osteoarthritis pain were titrated to an analgesic dose of hydrocodone ER (15–90 mg) and randomized to placebo or hydrocodone ER every 12 hours. The primary efficacy measure was change from baseline to week 12 in weekly average pain intensity (API; 0=no pain, 10=worst pain imaginable). Secondary measures included percentage of patients with >33% and >50% increases from baseline in weekly API, change from baseline in weekly worst pain intensity, supplemental opioid usage, aberrant drug-use behaviors, and adverse events. Overall, 294 patients were randomized and received ≥1 dose of placebo (n=148) or hydrocodone ER (n=146). Weekly API did not differ significantly between hydrocodone ER and placebo at week 12 (P=0.134); although, in post hoc analyses, the change in weekly API was significantly lower with hydrocodone ER when excluding the lowest dose (15 mg; least squares mean, –0.20 vs 0.40; P=0.032). Significantly more patients had .33% and .50% increase in weekly API with placebo (P

Opioids are essential to the management of pain in many patients, but they also are associated with potential risks for abuse, overdose, and diversion. A number of efforts have been devoted to the development of abuse-deterrent formulations of opioids to reduce these risks. This article summarizes a consensus meeting that was organized to propose recommendations for the types of clinical studies that can be used to assess the abuse deterrence of different opioid formulations. Due to the many types of individuals who may be exposed to opioids, an opioid formulation will need to be studied in several populations using various study designs in order to determine its abuse-deterrent capabilities. It is recommended that the research conducted to evaluate abuse deterrence should include studies assessing: (1) abuse liability; (2) the likelihood that opioid abusers will find methods to circumvent the deterrent properties of the formulation; (3) measures of misuse and abuse in randomized clinical trials involving pain patients with both low risk and high risk of abuse; and (4) post-marketing epidemiological studies.

This 12-month, phase 3, open-label study evaluated long-term safety of an extended-release (ER) hydrocodone tablet developed with OraGuard technology. Eligible patients (aged 18-80 years) were rolled over from a previous 12-week, randomized, placebo-controlled study of ER hydrocodone or were newly enrolledwith chronic ($3months) noncancer pain. After titrating ER hydrocodone (15-90 mg every 12 hours) to a successful dose, patients received up to 52 weeks of open-label treatment. Safety assessments included adverse events (AEs), serious AEs, withdrawals, and deaths. Patient global assessment (PGA) of pain control was also evaluated (assessments collected before the first titration dose in the previous study were considered baseline for rollover patients). In total, 329 patients received$1 ER hydrocodone dose andwere evaluable for safety; mean age was 54.4 years, 79% were white, and 65% had back/ low back pain. A total of 284 patients (86%) reported $1 AE, most commonly (>5%) constipation (26%), nausea (19%), headache (12%), somnolence (11%), vomiting (9%), and upper respiratory tract infection (8%). Twenty-seven (8%) patients experienced$1 serious AE (SAE); SAEs (>1 patient) included dehydration (n=2), deep vein thrombosis (n=2), renal failure (n=3), and pneumonia (n=3); nonewere considered treatment-related. Sixty-two (19%) patients withdrew because of treatment-emergent AEs, most commonly nausea (5%) and constipation (3%). Two deaths were reported (cause unknown, n=1; cardiac arrest and hyperkalemia, n=1); neither was considered treatment-related. Good/ excellent PGA responses were reported by 20% of patients at baseline, 81% at the beginning of open-label treatment, and 75% at endpoint (last observed postbaseline data). ER hydrocodone demonstrated a safety profile consistent with the known safety profile of hydrocodone and was well-tolerated up to 12 months in patients with chronic pain, with improvements in pain control observed early and maintained through the end of the study. Sponsored by Cephalon, now a subsidiary of Teva Pharmaceuticals.