New Treatment For Chronic Pain Sufferers Now Launching Across Europe

Main Category: Pain / Anesthetics
Article Date: 26 Jan 2009 - 4:00 PDT

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A new treatment, now launching across Europe, could provide an option for patients battling against severe long-term pain - a condition which is estimated to affect almost 30 million people across Europe.[i],[ii] Mundipharma announced that 13 countries* to date have received approval of Targin, a new medication specifically designed to provide strong opioid control of severe pain symptoms, whilst counteracting opioid-induced constipation, a common and often debilitating side effect of opioid treatment.[iii] A period of European launches will now be initiated.

Severe long-term pain can be experienced as a result of conditions such as back pain, arthritis and osteoarthritis. Long-term pain can have a significant impact on patients' daily lives and relationships1 and effective treatment is essential. However, although effective, opioids, the strongest type of pain relievers, are associated with opioid-induced constipation. Research has demonstrated that these side effects can be so severe that some patients choose to go without pain treatment, rather than live with the side effects of their opioid medication.[iv]

One chronic pain patient from the UK, describing her experience, said: "When my pain is at its worst I feel completely isolated. It exhausts me and I become bad tempered and irritable with my friends and family. When my doctor prescribed me a stronger painkiller, although the pain got much better I started feeling really constipated."

Targin is a novel combination of oral prolonged-release oxycodone, a strong opioid therapy to provide pain control, and prolonged-release naloxone, an opioid antagonist which counteracts the effect of the opioid on receptors in the gut - an interaction which, with conventional opioids, can result in opioid-induced constipation.

"The significance of opioid-induced constipation as a side effect of opioid therapy should not be underestimated. For people who are already fighting long-term illness and severe chronic pain, their pain relief medication should not result in more discomfort than the pain itself," comments Dr. Gerhard Müller-Schwefe, President of the German Pain Association.

Targin has been proven to provide equivalent pain relief to oxycodone alone, whilst significantly improving bowel function.[v],[vi],[vii] In patients receiving opioid therapy before switching to Targin, an improvement in bowel movements occurred as early as after one week in some patients, when compared to prolonged-release oxycodone.6,7

"Targin provides clinicians with a new option to treat severe chronic pain," concludes Dr. Tony O'Brien, Consultant Physician in Palliative Medicine, Cork University, Ireland. "In providing patients with effective analgesia, and the additional feature of alleviating opioid-induced constipation, it is my hope that this new treatment will help doctors to improve the quality of life for chronic pain patients across Europe."

About Targin

Targin is a combination of the strong opioid analgesic oxycodone and the opioid receptor antagonist naloxone in a prolonged-release tablet formulation.

Targin has been clinically proven to provide comparable analgesic efficacy to that of oxycodone, whilst significantly counteracting opioid-induced constipation, a class effect associated with all opioids. Targin is a prolonged-release formulation providing twice-daily dosing.

Targin received approval on 27th October 2008 via the Mutual Recognition Procedure for 13 European countries (*Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Iceland, Ireland, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, United Kingdom) for the treatment of severe pain and to counteract opioid-induced constipation. Targin will be launched in European countries from 2009 onwards. Targin was launched in Germany in 2006 via an expedited approval procedure.

About oxycodone

Oxycodone is a strong opioid analgesic, used for the treatment of severe chronic pain. Its efficacy has been demonstrated across a broad spectrum of severe pain states such as somatic and neuropathic pain.[viii]

About naloxone

Naloxone is an opioid receptor antagonist that, when taken orally, has negligible systemic bioavailability (<3%),[ix] providing a full inhibitory effect on local opioid receptors in the gut - counteracting opioid-induced constipation - without impacting on the centrally acting analgesic efficacy of oxycodone.

The oxycodone/naloxone combination will be marketed across Europe under the brand names Targin and Targinact™.

What are Opioids?

For more information on what opioids are, and opioid-induced constipation (OIC), please see:
All About Opioids and Opioid-Induced Constipation (OIC)

About Mundipharma International Limited

The Mundipharma/Napp/Norpharma independent associated companies, including Mundipharma, Purdue and Napp, are privately owned companies and joint ventures covering the world's pharmaceutical markets. The companies worldwide are dedicated to bringing to patients with severe and debilitating diseases the benefits of novel treatment options in fields such as severe pain, haemato-oncology and respiratory disease. Prolonged release oxycodone / naloxone was developed by Mundipharma Research.

Mundipharma International Limited

References:

[i] Breivik H, Collett B, Ventafridda V et al. Survey of chronic pain in Europe: Prevalence, impact on daily life and treatment. Eur J Pain. 2006; 10: 287-333.

[ii] Eurostat Population Statistics. 2006 Edition. Accessed 20.11.08.

[iii] Bell TJ, Panchal SJ, Miaskowski C, et al. The prevalence, severity and impact of opioid-induced bowel dysfunction: Results of a US and European patient survey (PROBE 1). Pain Medicine. 2008 doi: 10.1111/j.1526-4637.2008.00495.x.

[iv] Thorpe DM. Management of opioid-induced constipation. Curr Pain Headache Rep. 2001; 5: 237-240.

[v] Vondrackova D, Leyendecker P, Meissner W. et al. Analgesic efficacy and safety of oxycodone in combination with naloxone as prolonged release tablets in patients with moderate to severe chronic pain. J Pain. 2008; 9(12): 1144-1154.

[vi] Meissner W, Leyendecker P, Müller-Lissner S, et al. A randomised controlled trial with prolonged-release oral oxycodone and naloxone to prevent and reverse opioid-induced constipation. Eur J Pain. 2008; doi:10.1016/j.ejpain.2008.06.012.

[vii] Simpson K, Leyendecker P, Hopp M, et al. Fixed-ratio combination oxycodone/naloxone compared with oxycodone alone for the relief of opioid-induced constipation in moderate-to-severe non-cancer pain. Curr Med Res Opin. 2008; 24(12): 3503-3512.

[viii] Riley J, Eisenberg E, Müller-Schwefe G, et al. Oxycodone: a review of its use in the management of pain. Curr Med Res Opin. 2008; 24(1): 175-192.

[ix] Nadstawek J, Leyendecker P, Hopp M, et al. Patient assessment of a novel therapeutic approach for the treatment of severe, chronic pain. Int J Clin Pract. 2008; 62: 1159-116.

Mundipharma International Limited

What is pain?

For more information on what pain is and possible treatments, please see:
What is Pain? What Causes Pain?

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