Titration with Oxymorphone Extended Release to Achieve Effective Long-Term Pain Relief and Improve Tolerability in Opioid-Naive Patients with Moderate to Severe Pain

Objective. Assess the effectiveness and tolerability of a program of gradual dose titration with oxymorphone extended release (ER) for treatment of moderate to severe chronic pain in opioid-naive patients. Design. Open-label, nonrandomized 6-month study with a titration/stabilization period of ≤1 month followed by a 5-month maintenance period. Setting. Multidisciplinary pain centers in the United States. Patients. Adult opioid-naive patients with moderate to severe chronic pain. Interventions. Patients were gradually titrated from a 5-mg dose of oxymorphone ER (taken every 12 hours) to a stabilized dose that provided effective pain relief and was well tolerated. Outcome Measures. Brief Pain Inventory Short Form questions 5 and 9, patient and physician global assessments of pain relief, adverse events (AEs), and discontinuations. Results. The majority (94/126; 75%) of patients were stabilized on a dose of oxymorphone ER that provided effective pain relief with tolerable AEs. Most (81/94; 86%) required 50%) reductions of pain interference with quality-of-life measures. There was minimal dose escalation over the 5 months and low use of rescue medication. Conclusions. Oxymorphone ER provided effective pain relief from moderate to severe chronic pain in opioid-naive patients. Gradual titration was well tolerated, with a low rate of discontinuations caused by AEs.