Head-to-head study confirms superiority of the new intranasal treatment for breakthrough cancer pain over OTFC
New data presented today further demonstrate the efficacy of Instanyl in management of breakthrough cancer pain. The data which were presented at the 6th congress of the European Federation of Chapters of the International Association for the Study of Pain (EFIC) are from a multinational, crossover trial comparing Instanyl with oral transmucosal fentanyl citrate (OTFC) for the treatment of breakthrough pain in patients with cancer. The study concludes that pain relief was significantly greater for Instanyl compared to OTFC at all time points:
- 25% of episodes showed meaningful pain relief already at 5 minutes after treatment with Instanyl, as compared to 7% with OTFC. (p<0.001) (1)
- 51% of the Instanyl treated patients had a meaningful pain relief at 10 minutes, as compared to 24% with OTFC. (p<0.001) (1)
"These data confirm the superiority of the intranasal drug administration over OTFC. Rapid pain relief is essential for the management of breakthrough cancer pain and with evidence of onset of pain relief as early as 5 minutes, Instanyl offers patients a much more effective pain control than OTFC," said Professor Sebastiano Mercadante, principal investigator of the comparative study and Director of the Anesthesia and Intensive Care and Pain Relief and Palliative Care Units at La Maddalena Cancer Center, Palermo, Italy.
The study also showed that patients found Instanyl significantly easier to administer than OTFC, with 90% of patients finding Instanyl 'easy' or 'very easy' to use, compared to 40% of OTFC patients (2). Instanyl is the first intranasal treatment for breakthrough cancer pain to be licensed and the study showed that 77% of patients preferred Instanyl to OTFC (2).
"With a preference for Instanyl more than three-fold higher compared to OTFC the study confirms that with Instanyl patients now have a treatment that they feel better matches their need," said Professor Mercadante and concluded: "Instanyl represents a major step forward in the management of breakthrough cancer pain."