Conditions: Cancer Pain Breakthrough Pain
Keywords: Breakthrough Cancer Pain
Allocation: RANDOMIZED | Intervention model: PARALLEL
Enrollment: 330
Healthy volunteers: no

Brief summary:
Breakthrough cancer pain (BTcP) is a common problem in patients with cancer. Fentanyl Buccal Tablet (FBT) is used for the treatment of BTP in adults with cancer who are already receiving maintenance opioid therapy for chronic cancer pain. FBT treatment should be individually titrated to an effective dose that provides adequate analgesia and minimizes undesirable effects. To reach the safest effective dose for the individual patient as soon as possible, the dose titration process is critical. The aim of this study, conducted under pragmatic conditions in a large-scale population of cancer patients is to compare the proportion of patients reaching an effective FBT dose after titration starting with either a 100 mcg dose or a 200 mcg dose.

Detailed description:

Arms:
arm 1: During the Titration Period, participants took fentanyl buccal tables (FBT) with a starting dose of 100 mcg until they reached an effective dose, with a maximum dose of 800 mcg and a maximum timeframe of 7 days. Participants who reached an effective dose entered the Open-label Treatment Period, whose length depended on how long was needed to treat up to 8 episodes of breakthrough pain (BTP) with FBT (maximum of 8 days). The length of the Continuation Period (when applicable) varied from country to country, up to until FBT was commercially available in that country. arm 2: During the Titration Period, participants took fentanyl buccal tables (FBT) with a starting dose of 200 mcg until they reached an effective dose, with a maximum dose of 800 mcg and a maximum timeframe of 7 days. Participants who reached an effective dose entered the Open-label Treatment Period, whose length depended on how long was needed to treat up to 8 episodes of breakthrough pain (BTP) with FBT (maximum of 8 days). The length of the Continuation Period (when applicable) varied from country to country, up to until FBT was commercially available in that country.

Interventions: intervention 1: Fentanyl Buccal Tablet (FBT)
Intervention descriptions: intervention 1: FBTs were self-administered by participants via the oral mucosa. During the open-label dose titration period, participants used 1 to 4 tablets of the 100 mcg or 200 mcg strength to individually titrate upwards to an effective dose through the range of available strengths (i.e. 100, 200, 400, 600, or 800 mcg). For the open-label treatment and continuation periods, single dose tablets at the effective dose identified during the titration period were used. The maximum dose allowed per breakthrough pain (BTP) episode was 800 mcg. On any single day, participants were not to use FBT for more than 4 BTP episodes.

Protocol document: