I am a
Home I AM A Search Login

Papers of the Week


Papers: 5 Feb 2022 - 11 Feb 2022


Pharmacology/Drug Development


2022 Feb 07


BMJ Open


12


2

Phase III, international, multicentre, double-blind, dose increment, parallel-arm, randomised controlled trial of duloxetine versus pregabalin for opioid-unresponsive neuropathic cancer pain: a JORTC-PAL16 trial protocol.

Authors

Matsuoka H, Clark K, Fazekas B, Oyamada S, Brown L, Ishiki H, Matsuda Y, Hasuo H, Ariyoshi K, Lee J, Le B, Allcroft P, Kochovska S, Fujiwara N, Miyaji T, Lovell M, Agar M, Yamaguchi T, Satomi E, Iwase S, et al.
BMJ Open. 2022 Feb 07; 12(2):e050182.
PMID: 35131817.

Abstract

Management of neuropathic cancer pain (NCP) refractory to regular opioids remains an important challenge. The efficacy of pregabalin for NCP except chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy (CIPN) has already been confirmed in two randomised controlled trials (RCTs) compared with placebo. Duloxetine offers the potential of analgesia in opioid refractory NCP. However, there are no RCT of duloxetine for the management of opioid-refractory NCP as a first line treatment. Both classes of drugs have the potential to reduce NCP, but there has been no head-to-head comparison for the efficacy and safety, especially given differing side effect profiles.