

Tolerability and efficacy of two synergistic ratios of oral morphine and oxycodone combinations versus morphine in patients with chronic noncancer pain
Abstract
Setting: Clinical study centers in Australia.
Patients: Patients with chronic noncancer pain.
Intervention: Eligible patients were randomly assigned to receive flexible doses of either M or fixed ratio of MOX (M3:O2 in study A; M1:O2 in study B). The starting doses of M or MOX were the morphine equivalent doses (MEDs) converted from the analgesics received before entering double-blind treatment. At each crossover period, the doses were titrated to achieve analgesia at steady state, which was defined as when the same total daily dose (±10 percent) had been given consecutively for 3 days.
Main outcome measure: The primary endpoint was the study medication dose (MED), which produced adequate pain control at steady state.
Results: Analgesic synergy in MOX was observed in both studies. On an MED basis, 61.6 percent (study A, M:O = 3:2) or 46.8 percent (study B, M:O = 1:2) more MED were needed for M monotherapy to achieve steady-state pain control when compared with MOX. Patient tolerability profiles were also generally better in the MOX groups.
Conclusion: A 3:2 or1:2 fixed ratio combination of morphine and oxycodone (MOX) produced analgesic synergy and a tolerability profile improvement in patients with chronic noncancer pain.
Keywords
References
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.5055/jom.2012.0101
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